Duck Season
Every summer my brother and I took care of ourselves while we were out of school and out parents were at work. Basically, each day was a new adventure. Whether it be playing video games all day or sitting in awe as my brother built a series of ramps out of cardboard so that a ball bearing would roll from one side of the living room to the other. I never thought that anyone would attempt to try and capture that listlessness on screen, much less be able to recreate it, but director Fernando Eimbcke has.
Moko (Diego Cataño) and Flama (Daniel Miranda) have been left home alone and plan to enjoy a day that will consist of the simple joy of playing Xbox for hours on end. Before long they are interrupted by Rita (Danny Perea). Her stove isn’t working and she needs a place to bake a cake. The two boys are too enthralled by Halo to even notice that she is there, that is until the power goes out and they have to entertain themselves. They start off by tormenting a pizza delivery guy by claiming they don’t have to pay him because he was eleven seconds late. When he refuses to leave, they challenge him to a game of soccer, winner takes all.
What follows is a great observation on what it is to be a young and bored. It’s something very much in the Italian Neo-Realist vein. The screenplay really nails the unusually mundane conversations people have when they have nothing better to do. This is no truer than in the scenes dealing with a painting of ducks in flight that marks Flama’s birth.
There is a segment where Ulises is reminiscing about at time where he worked at an animal shelter that seems somewhat out of place. Tonally it doesn’t mesh with the rest of the film. It’s as though these people are in this fantasy of youth and all of a sudden the real world comes barreling in. Of course maybe that’s the point; it’s a reminder of how fleeting childhood is.
Along with that there is a great sexual subtext to this film that is obligatory to every coming of age film, but here a big production isn’t made of it. These kids are just at the age where they are just starting to develop and understand adult feelings. They seem to acknowledge what’s going on, but instead of dealing with these feelings they choose to enjoy what little bit of their youthful naiveté that they have left.
Look, nothing really happens and nothing is really a big deal to anyone involved. The best way to describe this film is that it is as though Jim Jarmusch directed Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. If you aren’t a Jarmusch fan this probably isn’t the film for you. Let’s face it, this film is fairly sparse, like most days as a kid there’s just not a whole lot going on.
The Grade
- Story: B
- Acting: B-
- Visuals: A-
- Originality: B
- Enjoyability: C+
- Overall: B-
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