Inheritance

Inheritance is the latest from director Neil Burger. And it’s not to be confused with Vertical’s haunted house yarn from last year called The Inheritance, where a wealthy paterfamilias invites his adult children to the family estate to face a supernatural trial. Nor should it be confused with another movie called Inheritance from 2024, a comic Polish thriller on Netflix where a rich uncle tests the beneficiaries of his will before they receive their bequest. Nor the American documentary from 2024 called Inheritance, about a young boy whose family has been affected by the opioid crisis. Nor the UK limited series from 2023 called The Inheritance, nor the Sky Original series called Inheritance coming later in 2025, both about grappling with precarious circumstances around losing a loved one. No, Inheritance, the one I’m referring to, comes from IFC Films, and the title’s significance doesn’t become apparent until the final moments. 

Written by Burger and Olen Steinhauer, the film inevitably deals with a family death. Maya (Phoebe Dynevor) has been caring for her mother for the last nine months, practically alone and around the clock. After her mother passes, she spirals into shoplifting, hard partying, and meaningless sex with anonymous partners until the funeral. There, Maya reconnects with her estranged father, Sam (Rhys Ifans, using a goofy American accent), who seems eager to repair the bridge between them. The metaphor of burned bridges becomes a motif the writers explore again later, but in the meantime, Sam offers Maya a job as a liaison for his clients. He brokers deals for wealthy real estate investors, whom Maya will meet overseas, schmooze, and guide through the purchase process. Hoping she might reconnect with one parent after the loss of another, she agrees. 

Maya drops everything in her life to follow Sam to Cairo so he can show her the ropes. Meanwhile, they begin to unpack their relationship, or lack thereof, with Sam apologizing for his past absences and lifestyle. Their family used to travel together for his international deals, but he admits to having a “sketchy” client base in the past. Sam laundered money through real estate to buy information, influence, and even weapons for what he claims to be freedom fighters and not “terrorists.” But before father and daughter get much further along, some anonymous bad guys kidnap Sam. In exchange, they want Maya to follow instructions on Sam’s iPad to acquire a hard drive with international secrets and bank accounts stored inside. Interpol wants the device, too, claiming it’s government property. 

While Maya follows the kidnappers’ precise instructions and globe-trots to get the MacGuffin, Inheritance features long passages of travel in real-life locations. The movie was shot entirely on an iPhone, making Inheritance feel like a guerilla production. Video captured on location in New York City gives way to footage inside actual planes, trains, and automobiles to authentic spots in Cairo, Mumbai, and Seoul. Cinematographer Jackson Hunt’s handheld approach looks like an indie from the early 2000s when DV cameras were just emerging. Just as Steven Soderbergh has shown that an iPhone can have a form-follows-function effect on the thriller Unsane (2018) and the classy sports drama High Flying Bird (2019), Burger and Hunt jam the camera in Dynevor and Ifans’ faces. The close angles, jagged movements of the frame, and long takes amplify the story’s immediacy, while the electronic score gives the material a vibrant tempo.

While the visual technique and authenticity of each moment in Inheritance are unmistakable, the story driving the production’s aesthetic choices underwhelms. Burger preys on Western prejudices against other countries, such as a moment when he builds tension by following an Egyptian man who approaches Sam, as though he’s poised to attack, only to reveal they’re friends. The long sequences of Maya moving through busy city streets have an air of xenophobia, particularly in Cairo, though it’s lessened by the time the story brings her to South Korea. A certain degree of paranoia is expected in this conspiracy thriller milieu, where Maya can trust no one, but she never finds a fully developed supporting character to trust, either. Dynevor, who shined in 2023’s Fair Play, does her best with an underwritten character who’s intelligent, resourceful, and a little broken. Ifans sells Sam’s moments of chilly logic, recalling his performance in Oliver Stone’s Snowden (2016). 

As for Burger, his career has been defined by mid-budget hits such as The Illusionist (2006), Limitless (2011), Divergent (2014), and The Upside (2017). But that sort of production has been steadily declining in Hollywood, leaving the director to work with smaller budgets that struggle to earn a profit, as evidenced in his recent flops: Voyagers (2021) and The Marsh King’s Daughter (2023). It’s difficult to imagine a movie as slight as Inheritance distinguishing itself enough to break through the confusion of its omnipresent title to become a hit. The predictable plotting and mid-film twist don’t help matters, nor does the reveal of the title’s meaning. While it’s a compelling premise with an admirably ambitious execution, the story never quickens the pulse or rouses much interest.