Duck Season

It's Sunday and Flama's mom is gone. His mom left him some money for coke and pizza, and his friend Moko is staying over. They have some pretty ambitious plans - to eat pizza, drink soda, and play lots of X-box. Duck Season is the theatrical answer to Seinfeld. It is a movie about nothing. The difference is that writer/director Fernando Eimcke and co-writer Paula Markovitch is that it creeps up on the viewer slowly, and is a bit more heartwarming and a bit less random than the television show. It's a nice stretch for both, who previously worked primarily in short films.

Everything starts okay for Flama (Daniel Miranda, Extreme Days) and Moko (Diego Catano, Zurdo). They empty an entire two-liter bottle into two humongous glasses, and zone out in front of television with controllers in hand. The bell rings, and Rita (Danny Perea) walks in asking to use the oven to bake a cake. She is Flama's neighbor, and her oven is broken. Flama could care less, and she won't be bothering him, so he's fine. He's less fine when a power outage stops his game. Flama and Moko decide to order a pizza, which they claim is late. Ulises (Enrique Arreola), the pizza delivery guy begs to differ, and refuses to leave or hand over the pizza until they pay him. What results is a standoff of sorts.

Eimcke sets the stage for the rest of the day, with four bored people sitting around not really doing anything. However, Duck Season is far from boring. It has a very naturalistic feel to it and slowly becomes more charming. As the afternoon progresses, the stalemate between Flama, Moko, and Ulises develops into a friendship. Aside from a lazy choice to throw in some pot (one of the primary reasons for the R rating), the sequences easily segue from one to another without feeling arbitrary or forced. The humor is understated and deadpan, reminiscent of recent efforts like The Man Without a Past and Kitchen Stories. Duck Season is filmed nicely in black and white, muting some of the emotion and making everything seem a bit more surreal. This is the kind of film that starts slow, then sucks people in. Soon, people watching will find themselves smiling, and eventually, they will find themselves laughing.

Mongoose Rates It: Not Bad.
1 hour, 25 minutes, Spanish with English subtitles, Rated R for language and some drug content.

Back to Movies