2012 Sundance Predictions: Matt Piedmont’s Casa de mi Padre

#13. Casa de mi Padre – Matt Piedmont

In my books, among best films to have been shown at last year’s edition was Matt Piedmont’s award winning Brick Novax’s Diary (parts I & II). Casa de mi Padre – Piedmont’s feature film debut as been a lock for a while now (see trailer), my thinking is this knee-slapper with subtitles is looking for the most ideal fest to tickle audiences and get a distributor to budge and pick up this oddball concept of a film that will play better as an indie film than a studio pic. Alumni Park City members Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal star alongside the Funny or Die folk. Look for a Premieres category showing. Update: The pic just got picked up by Pantelion Films with a March 16th set release date. We smell a possible SXSW entry as an alternative fest showing date.

Gist: Scripted by Andrew Steele, this Mexican ‘telenovela’ soap with English subtitles sees Armando Alvarez (Will Ferrell) has lived and worked on his father’s ranch in Mexico his entire life. As the ranch encounters financial difficulties, Armando’s younger brother Raul (Diego Luna), shows up with his new fiancé, Sonia (Genesis Rodriguez). It seems that Raul’s success as an international businessman means the ranch’s troubles are over as he pledges to settle all debts his father has incurred. But when Armando falls for Sonia, and Raul’s business dealings turn out to be less than legit, all hell breaks loose as they find themselves in a war with Mexico’s most feared drug lord, the mighty Onza (Gael Garcia Bernal).

Producers: Ferrell, Emilio Diez Barroso, Jessica Elbaum, Darlene Caamano, Adam McKay and Kevin J. Messick

(IONCINEMA.com Preview Page // IMDB Link)