Ponderosa

A film by Rob Rice

When the buffet where Zeke’s mom works closes down, he’s forced to entertain the advances of a rich regular, George, who is weirdly obsessed with becoming his dad. George works in corporate real estate developing housing that is uglier than anyone deserves. He “generously” offers to take Zeke under his wing and show him how, with a little elbow grease, he could do the same one day.  With help from his ideological friends, George is ultimately making a case for his image of the American 20th century, which he sees as a flawless cultural form everyone should work to reproduce. Problem is… Zeke isn’t buying it. Squarely in Gen Z, he simply isn’t moved by those ideas.  Receiving no positive reinforcement from Zeke, George grows increasingly deranged, anxious he won’t be able to prove his value to his nebulous overlords by taking on a son. As George unravels, Zeke only hardens, and sets out to sever his attachment to George, and to his vision of the future, by force.

Director, Writer: Rob Rice
Producer: Megan Pickrell, Matthew Porterfield, Amy E. Powell, Rob Rice
Principal Cast: Jack Dylan Grazer, Jason Matsumoto, Eugene Sun Park