Is there ever an opportune time for an estranged parent to reenter your life? In the case of Maya (Phoebe Dynevor), she’s presented this question when her father, Sam (Rhys Ifans) arrives during a painful time. Maya is aimless in New York City, having just lost her mother of whom she’s been caring for over the last nine months and dulling the pain with liquor, clubbing, and meaningless intercourse. At the funeral, Sam reintroduces himself, paying tribute to his once-wife and offering to make peace and maybe give his daughter some meaning with a new job in a new locale.

Sam works in international real estate, and his latest dealing involves a building in Cairo, Egypt. He encourages Maya to come along and get a reset of sorts. Just as they appear to be opening up, Sam excuses himself to the restroom and doesn’t return. Only by a phone call from her father is she informed that it isn’t safe and she needs to leave the restaurant they were at with the iPad he brought with him. Turns out, there’s very sensitive stuff on it, and turns out that her father is a spy who many people are after. Knee deep in it now, Maya has no choice but to follow her father’s instructions if she and he are to stay alive.

With the rapid technological advancements of those things we carry often in our hands and pockets, mobile filmmaking is not going anywhere. Sure, it’ll never be the dominant tool used to make features, but it’s a tool that can be leveraged for budding filmmakers who may not have access to traditional means. In the last decade, we’ve seen established directors like Steven Soderbergh, Sean Baker, Danny Boyle in a few months with 28 Years Later, and now Neil Berger with Inheritance use it as a creative means for their story, or maybe from a cynical lens, a simple stylistic flex to obscure a skeleton setup.

Berger has had experience with movies featuring dynamic effects and chaotic premises in the form of Divergent and Limitless. His Inheritance (no less than five films have this same title or something close to it), is decidedly dissimilar to those. Filmed with an iPhone, the “pick up and shoot” vibe is evident, as are indicators that this was made during a time where production crews had to be lean. There are scenes where the tight, guerrilla shooting makes for unique visuals. A standout in particular highlights a scooter chase in tight alleyways. However, many stretches of the movie put cinematic focus unintentionally (or maybe intentionally for some reason?) on unsuspecting background stand-ins who are in the wrong place at the wrong time looking into the camera shot. It can be a reminder that you’re watching a director doing something still novel as opposed to a director drawing you into a feature.

Some of those above sins could be forgiven if Inheritance didn’t rush on its desire to drop Maya right into the spy world. As quickly as her father reenters her life, he’s effectively gone again and co-writers Berger and Olen Steinhauer miss an opportunity to at least try to inject a little pathos before this happens. Much of the movie lacks weight and the plot itself is pretty unimaginative with a MacGuffin thrown in, potentially a result of all of the frame focus being on Maya as her father is often only heard through phone. There is a solid twist at the end, but its execution is too winking at the audience for a feature like this.

The unpolished aspect of Inheritance flows over to Dynevor’s performance. That isn’t a negative, for the movie asks her to be agile and “real” and to the young actresses’ credit, she just goes with it. While her character is lean on details like the world she’s dropped in, she’s talented enough to warrant more lead consideration in other well-rounded features. Veteran Ifans isn’t around enough in the runtime to make enough of an imprint. He and Dynevor both are loose in their American accents. For such a globe-trotting feature though, it’s a weird decision to not have them roll with their native accents.

The tools may expand when it comes to making movies, but things like thought-out plotting and background production will always be necessary. There’s not enough of that in Inheritance, which feels more like a sparse and spackle plot written on napkins filmed around the mobile direction.

C-

Photo credits are courtesy of IFC Films.