Start with the situation - father promises to stay outside of his daughter's school all day. Show that he is actually keeping his strange promise. Introduce bouncy, simple, clanking piano music to show this is a non-threatening, heart-warming piece. Expose the central conflict - the mother of the girl died, leaving the girl alone in the house with the corpse. Show deeper level of conflict, the father is the one with the separation anxiety. Toss in some odd dialog with curse words to show the film has humor and has an edge to it (not too chick-flicky). Close with bouncy, simple, clanking piano music swelling over a montage of everyone hugging. Close credits.

There's the recipe for what is probably the best way to sell an Italian film to American audiences open to such things.