by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent

Yes, we’ve all heard smartphones called the “black box” of our lives, but Mexican director Manolo Caro has adapted an award-winning Italian film that really speaks to the mobile handheld-driven times we live in.  Caro's new film PERFECTOS DESCONOCIDOS, or PERFECT STRANGERS to be released Jan. 11 from Pantelion Films, is literally powered by involuntary phone reveals.

It’s full of “textual tension," and it’s contagious.

Just to understand how this game of telephone got started, in 2016 Palace Films released PERFETTI SCONOSCUITI by writer-director Paolo Genovese. It's about recreational cell phone swapping at a dinner party and the cringeworthy reveals that ensue. This award-winning screenplay/idea has literally been hitting the screens or in development in multiple countries as remakes/adaptations in a collective commentary on connectivity.

Box office hits like French-made LE JEU (2018), which features the same team of writers from the Italian original (Filippo Bologna, Paolo Costella, Genovese) are earning huge at the box office, according to Variety; and the concept looks to crossover in culturally custom-made remakes not just for the EU, but for Middle Eastern audiences.

It’s the first cellphone-swap digital fairy tale, blowing up with global appeal.

For now, in PERFECT STRANGERS set for January release in the US, Caro has taken this theme from Genovese's screenplay written with two of the Italian scripters Filippo Bologna and Paolo Costella, and threaded it into a Mexican weave that turns an elegant dinner party into madcap jury duty.

One of the Bichir brothers of the Mexican acting dynasty, Bruno ("Narcos," "DC Comics Titans") stars with Cecilia Suárez ("Overboard," "The House of Flowers"), Manuel García-Rulfo ("Magnificent Seven," "Murder in the Orient Express"), Mariana Treviño ("Overboard," "Club de Cuervos"), Miguel Rodarte (Sundance winner "Time Share," "Saving Private Perez"), Ana Claudia Talancón ("Crime of Father Amaro," "Fast Food Nation") and Spanish newcomer Franky Martin. Lionsgate is the distributor.

Here’s how the film is described by Pantelion Films

From Mexican auteur Manolo Caro (THE HOUSE OF FLOWERS) comes PERFECT STRANGERS (PERFECTOS DESCONOCIDOS), the electrifying story about a seemingly simple dinner. When a group of best friends get together during a lunar eclipse to share an intimate dinner in the tasteful house of Eva (Cecilia Suarez) and Antonio (Bruno Bichir), they suspect it's just another typical night until the hostess proposes a game. All guests must lay their cell phones on the table and read aloud all incoming messages and answer all incoming phone calls in front of the entire group. What begins as a provocative party game quickly becomes a wild ride full of twists and "textual tension" in this electrifying over the top comedy about the secrets we all carry in our pockets.  As mentioned, the lively cast includes Cecilia Suárez ("Overboard," "The House of Flowers"), Manuel García-Rulfo ("Magnificent Seven," "Murder in the Orient Express"), Mariana Treviño ("Overboard," "Club de Cuervos"), Miguel Rodarte (Sundance winner "Time Share," "Saving Private Perez"), Bruno Bichir ("Narcos," "DC Comics Titans"), Ana Claudia Talancón ("Crime of Father Amaro," "Fast Food Nation") and Spanish newcomer Franky Martin. PERFECT STRANGERS is directed and adapted by Manolo Caro based on the original screenplay by Paolo Genovese.

Starring: Cecilia Suárez, Bruno Bichir, Mariana Treviño, Manuel García Rulfo, Miguel Rodarte, Franky Martin, Ana Claudia Talancón and Camila Valero

Directed By: Manolo Caro

Produced By: Rafael Ley, María José Córdova, Rodrigo S. González, Manolo Caro, Miguel Mier, Miguel Rivera, Leo Cordero

Mexican Style PERFECTOS DESCONOCIDOS or PERFECT STRANGERS

Italian original, because this idea has worldwide legs… and relevance

Thanks, Pantelion.