CR: Padre Nuestro

Padre Nuestro is the feature film debut from writer/director Christopher Galla, the story of two young boys, Pedro and Juan, who flee Mexico illegally with the help of corrupt border patrol officials. Pedro carries with him a letter from his mother and a locket containing photos of his mother and father, the latter of which fled Mexico for New York City 22 years before. Pedro has come to New York to find him. Juan also carries two mementos from his father – a switchblade and the scar on his chest where his father stuck the blade.

Things do not go as planned for Pedro. He wakes up in New York and is thrown onto the streets, with nothing. Juan has stolen all Pedro’s belongings, and soon takes more than that when he tracks down Pedro’s father, a reclusive kitchen worker who passes his nights with soap operas, alcohol and sewing imitation flowers he sells for a dollar a piece, and approaches the old man claiming to be Pedro. The real Pedro finds a reluctant companion in Magda, a volatile young drug addict and occasional prostitute, who agrees to help Pedro track down his father so long as he pays her. Though Diego is skeptical of Juan at first, he’s been alone too long, and Juan progresses from petty thief to con man.

Along with Ramin Bahrini (Man Push Cart) and filmmaking team Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden (Half Nelson), Christopher Galla knows how to craft an intelligent, socially-relevant, urban-based screenplay, and how to shoot New York City the way Spike Lee and Martin Scorsese shot it two generations ago, drawing the texture and character of the city through the lens of the camera and burning it onto celluloid. Galla’s film works the mistaken-identity story archetype into an entirely character-driven film. Combined with the overall layer of grit, the end result is a nice mix of intense drama and neo-noir.

He also works with a phenomenal cast, most of which will probably be strangers to U.S. audiences (Diego is played by Jesus Ochoa, recognizable to some as corrupt detective Fuentes from the Denzel Washington vehicle Man on Fire). The five top cast members have all won international best-acting awards. With excellent script, cinematography, direction and editing, this film will probably earn some awards for both the cast and filmmakers.