Peluca (2003)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Jared Hess

Writer:

Jared Hess (writer)

Genre:

Comedy | Short

Plot:

A day in the life of Seth, super nerd extraordinaire; rocking the megalopolis of Preston, Idaho, and soon the world, with his illegal ninja moves and his sweet fanny pack. GOSH!! |

Plot Keywords:

Nerd | Cafeteria | Fall Down | School Bus | Best Friend

Cast

Greg Hansen	...	Pedro
Jon Heder	...	Seth
Bracken Johnson	...	Randy
Chris Sanchez	...	Giel
Leo Shackleford	...	Cashier
Zack Thomas	...	Vern

Runtime:

USA:9 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Filming Locations:

Preston, Idaho, USA

Trivia:

On a budget of approximately $500, this movie was shot in two days on grainy black and white 16mm film in Preston, Idaho using primarily local talent (except for Jon Heder).

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Dinner for Five: (#4.9)" (2005)

A funny pre-"Napoleon Dynamite" short

Not long before filmmaker Jared Hess made his feature-length debut with the polarizing teen comedy, "Napoleon Dynamite", he started his film career by making this very similar short, "Peluca", which, like its successor, features Jon Heder, who was yet to become very famous, in the starring role. As a fan of the movie that followed, I've seen this short more than once in the bonus features of the Special Edition DVD. While I would say "Napoleon Dynamite" is the superior of the two, "Peluca" definitely comes close to it in terms of quality.

The main character here is Seth, a geeky teenager who is pretty much just like Napoleon Dynamite. He's not very popular at school, but is friends with two Mexican students, Pedro and Giel. During lunch break, while Seth is at the table in the cafeteria with Pedro and Giel, Giel (who is like Pedro Sanchez in "Napoleon Dynamite") has his hood over his head. This is because he was recently feeling too hot, and shaved his head to cool off, but now he doesn't want to be seen without any hair. The three of them agree to ditch their next class and go shopping, so Seth can buy a fanny pack and Giel can get a wig, but can they get enough money to do so?

Quite a few things in this short are also featured in "Napoleon Dynamite", including the way it begins. If you've seen ND, I'm sure one part of my plot description sounds familiar. However, there are also some things that did not end up being repeated in this short film's successor, but are still funny. One difference between "Peluca" and ND is that this short film is in black and white and the picture isn't quite perfect, obviously due to the very low budget. However, despite that, I certainly do recommend this pre-"Napoleon Dynamite" short for fans of the movie. If you like the style of humour in Jared Hess' feature-length debut, you can see more of the same in this film.