IT’S IMPORTANT TO BE REMINDED THAT NOT ALL TRIUMPHS ARE IN SPORTS
NEW KID IN TOWN {BY AL HOFF} In this low-key coming-of-age story, 13-year-old Morris (Markees Christmas) and his recently widowed dad, Curtis (Craig Robinson), have relocated to Heidelberg, Germany, where Curtis coaches soccer. Writer/director Chad Hartigan’s Morris From America quickly establishes that Morris faces formidable social challenges: He’s the new, foreign, awkward kid who can barely speak the language. But Morris attracts the attention of Katrin (Lina Keller), a rebellious 15-year-old , who treats him both kindly and cruelly. Morris is, of course, enthralled.
Morris (Markees Christmas) is from America.
CP APPROVED
While the film presents many standard first-crush “dramas,” there is a second emotional track where the still-grieving Morris and Curtis have to recalibrate their relationship. Curtis, now the sole disciplinarian, still wants to be Morris’ buddy — the two share a love of rapping, though they have utter disdain for each other’s style — and he struggles to find a balance. He’s also keenly aware that his relocating to Germany makes life especially tough on Morris. Seeking to impress Katrin, Morris does some dumb (if wholly believable) things — not out of anger or petulance, but because he’s just a kid. The result of Morris’ ill-advised (but also wonderful) adventure is worth the wait in this lightly plotted film. It’s a win of sorts for Morris, but the real payoff is for us, when the steady work Robinson has done as Curtis pays off in a great father-son moment. In English, and some German, with subtitles. Starts Fri., Sept. 30. Harris AHOFF@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
MASTERMINDS Jared Hess directs this comedy about an armored-van driver who pulls off a huge heist, only to have things go terribly wrong. Owen Wilson, Zach Galifinakis and Kristen Wiig star. Starts Fri., Sept. 30
A successful match: chess coach Robert Katende (David Oyelowo) and his teen prodigy Phiona Mutesi (Madina Nalwanga)
MAKING A MOVE {BY AL HOFF}
Q
UEEN OF KATWE, directed by Mira
Nair, is a family-friendly film from Disney that tells the real-life story of Phiona Mutesi, a teenage chess champion from Uganda. The illiterate Phiona (Madina Nalwanga) lives in the Katwe slum of Kampala, whose modern high-rises are visible beyond the shacks. She is introduced to chess by Robert Katende (David Oyelowo), who runs a chess club in a shed, imparting game and life skills to his raggedy young charges; he also convinces Phiona’s struggling single mother, Harriet (Lupita Nyong’o), to let her compete in matches. Nair’s film follows the formula of other inspirational tales, even adapting the “underdog sports” track: Victories are staggered with expected adversities (family, housing and money troubles). The three leads give low-key performances, which helps Queen feel more like an ensemble film, as befits the material; it really does take a village. The nonprofessional child actors toggle between wonderful and self-conscious, but the enthusiasm of these youngsters is infectious. Much of the dialogue is on-the-nose,
but I’m hoping people will bring kids to see this, so one can forgive lines like “In chess, the small one can become the big one” and “You must never surrender.” Honestly, there are so few movies about young women of color who succeed using brainpower that I’m OK with glossing over the film’s imperfect patches. (Also unusual
QUEEN OF KATWE DIRECTED BY: Mira Nair STARRING: Madina Nalwanga, David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong’o STARTS: Fri., Sept. 30
CP APPROVED for the genre: This film has no white savior.) It’s important to be reminded that not all triumphs — and not all supportive teams — are in sports. Celebrating and nurturing intelligence surely is a better longterm takeaway than recounting that one game-winning touchdown. The story fares better when it explores the personal roadblocks Phiona faces — her
insecurity and adolescent impulsiveness — and the psychic challenges of confronting another, more comfortable world beyond Katwe’s poverty. Her mother worries that such exposure will leave Phiona “not here, and not there,” condemned to float between them “like a ghost who cannot rest.” Such fears are warranted, even as the protagonists’ goals are modest by our standards: Can being good at chess get these kids into schools? The film may present chess as another sport to be conquered, but what’s on the line is a life-changing opportunity, not a trophy. I’m not a huge fan of “inspired by” stories; their formulaic nature numbs me. But I do love the scene during these films’ credits when we see the real people, in photos or archival footage, which offers the satisfying zing of things as they actually were, free from Hollywood gloss and spin. True to form, Queen had a charming credits sequence, where the actual young chess players of Katwe pose goofily with the actors who portrayed them. Real people are the best. A HOF F @ P G HC I T Y PA P E R. C OM
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