GREATEST HITS (LOS MEJORES TEMAS) World Cinema

In one of the most inventive and humorous films of AFI FEST 2012, 30-year-old Nicolas Pereda’s sixth film deconstructs linear storytelling by wittily playing with reality, perception and appearances. Gabino grew up without a father, male guidance or a career path. To make ends meet and support his mother, he sells “Greatest Hits” CDs in the subway. After decades of absence, Gabino’s father materializes, asking for a place to stay. Gabino and his mother turn him away, unaware that he already has a new home and job to go to. Pereda creates a hybrid observational film by cleverly utilizing actors he has cast in his previous films to play the same roles thus enabling various genres to coexist. Challenging all cinema norms, THE GREATEST HITS drifts from documentary to fiction questioning and exploring the dynamics of a common theme in Mexican households: the absent father.