Casa Grande showcases great cast and location

Telling a sweeping tale on a low budget, Casa Grande benefits with talents from its mostly little =-

known cast members who present characters worth caring about. Of course, they need material to work with, and director Juan Pablo Arias Munoz, co-writing with Sherell Jackson, creates an absorbing melodrama that springboards from a previous Amazon Freevee series. No recap or former viewing needed, the writers provide enough backstory dialogue for everything to make sense to someone walking in cold—like me. Racism, bad parenting, and ICE agent malfeasance happened before but get explained and take a back seat as a dying ranch owner’s now pregnant daughter Hassie returns home to say goodbye after years on the run for a crime committed in the earlier series. Dad now feels able to set aside some racist/classist attitudes and accept Hassie’s partnership with Latino ranch hand Mael—but that fails to solve newly emerging issues like a greedy neighbor played by the project’s biggest name, Lou Diamond Phillips. Phillips, usually a strong presence as an honorable character, switches to villain mode without resorting to cliched mustache twirling moments, easily blending charm with menace. He works particularly well with Kate Mansi, a daytime Emmy award winner who gives her character Hunter an edgy but appealing intensity. Lead roles go to John-Pyper Ferguson and Madison Lawlor—less familiar from other projects but nonetheless capable of handling their roles. Another key character comes with the land—the ranches featuring stunning homes and mountain backdrops set in northern California but filmed in Nevada’s Carson Valley. No surprise to locals—the area demonstrates star quality, though some of its beauty seems muted by digital rather than rich film stock. But despite budget limitations, Casa Grande proves both engaging and entertaining.