Duck Season And Hash Brownies

Boredom is a hard thing to live with no matter who you are and what you have in life. I remember being disillusioned as a kid thinking that whenever I got a new toy it would end my boredom forever. Then a few weeks later the empty feeling would return and I would have something new to complain about. In a sense that’s partially what Duck Season is all about. Conquering boredom and finding out about yourself in return. This plot allows director Fernando Eimbcke to explorer the lighter aspects of life changes in a semi-humorous way.

Duck Season begins calmly showing various scenes of the neighborhood in which the characters live. Flama (Daniel Miranda) and Moko (Diego Cataño) are left home alone on a Sunday afternoon with nothing planned but to play video games. This slowly changes once the power goes out and Rita (Danny Perea) arrives. The pizza guy (Enrique Arreola) is reluctant to just hand over a pizza for free because he insists that his delivery was on time. These four characters, that are seamlessly forced to interact, are developed extensively as the story unravels.

Generally speaking you could say Duck Season resembles a Wes Anderson film. Both take typical tribulations that people go through and twist them into uniquely shaped comedic moments. Wes Anderson movies usually have a disintegrating family, one more reason Duck Season falls into line. Flama’s parents are going through a rough divorce and the split is causing them to argue over many of the possessions in the house. This leads to Flama and his friend to destroy a few things in order to help settle who gets them.

The cast is well rounded and does an admirable job carrying the film. A fine line had to be followed and many times their roles called for serious and comedic moments. All four successfully make the transition with ease. There was also a good vision put forth by Fernando Eimbcke to know a scene needed an ice breaker. The use of black and white photography aides his goal during each scene because strangely during the funnier aspects of the film you envision color. As a more serious tone is required you realize it’s still being shown in black and white.

Duck Season isn’t going to be for everyone like a normal comedy would be. It many ways it’s an art house production which in turn cuts its intended audience in half. It already has a short run time, clocking in at less than 90 minutes, but it could have been another ten minutes shorter and it wouldn’t have changed the story at all. Movie lovers will find many redeeming qualities but the average Joe will probably only find time to see it once.