Temporada de patos

Not only Fernando Eimbcke challenged himself to shoot a movie inside of an apartment but he casted three kids without any experience in acting. The result is an original realistic movie with truly funny young characters. And yes: there are guns, drugs, flirting and bare buttocks but in a unworried way -enough to be fun and not scary. It is Eimbcke's opera prima for a long movie and he proved that his experience directing music videoclips and comedic short movies is a good foundation for this movie. He already got seven "mayahueles" at the Guadalajara Film Festival, a MTV Movie Award and he got his chance of showing Duck Season at the International Critics Week in Cannes 2004.

No special effects, frenetic, head-spinning editing here - just a simple story about a day in the lives of two 14 ear old Mexican boys that turns out to be anything but typical. Eimbcke is clearly a major talent in the making,the simplicity belies his canniness and empathy with the human condition. The comparisons with Jim Jarmusch's low key delights are valid, there is a similar languid economy of action, there are also shades of Beckett here too, and Eimbcke has an eye that finds beauty and humour in the most mundane situations.The playing is wonderful throughout, Catano as Moko and Miranda as his pal Flama are the films core and things seem to happen around them, rather than to them, the catalysts are pretty teenager Rita (Perea)the neighbour in need of an oven, and hapless pizza delivery man Ulises (Arreola). I suppose at the film's core is the redemptive power of friendships,as in "Gregory's Girl" or "Stand by Me" both of which share an intuitive insight into adolescence and teenage awakening. There is even a hilarious post credit coda for all us credit fiends that clog up the aisles once the film ends!Simple,heartwarming, surreal and ultimately uplifting. Unmissible.

This movie is brilliantly written. If any have seen Y tu Mama Tambien, the writer found a way to basically condense the time of that movie (which was over a period of many months) to the time frame of this movie (which is less than a day). It provokes a very similar feeling at the end of the movie- a feeling of absence, of lost friendship, a feeling of a life now changed. The whole movie itself, until the ending, captures the lives of these two boys in such a short amount of time. You can see a strong friendship that (even though you only see 8 hours of it) you can tell what the whole lifelong friendship was like. There is hilarious dialogue that takes place, and some very funny things. I think many people may not get the humor of a lot of it, but most will enjoy the randomness/hilarity of a lot of the dialogue. The filming is a bit uncomfortable at first, as the camera doesn't move and just stays put. After a while, it becomes much more comfortable- where you suddenly feel like you are a fly on the wall. This was a good choice by the director, and it really made the movie!

Brilliant!

I just saw Duck Season today at the Palm Springs Film Festival and loved this film. People of all ages were in the theater and we all were laughing throughout the film. This film was great on all levels. I liked that it was filmed in black and white which was a nice touch. The actors were great. The story was fantastic! The director did a great job with the creativity of this film. I marked "Superb" on my ballot. This film needs to be released!!! It would be very popular due to its artistic flare, and people want to see movies that move them in all directions which this film does. A funny, creative, playful, thoughtful film!

Thanks to all who made this film and shared it with us!

Roxie Roco :)

I viewed this at the Toronto International Film festival and I was pleasantly surprised- simple, direct, and yet still very engaging.

It highlights the simplicity of childhood and the difficulty of early adolescence; as well as just simple, human joys. A film like this need not be complex, technically, I mean hey, it worked with "Clerks" didn't it?

I enjoyed this film tremendously because it was so realistic- it reminded me a lot of how I and other kids acted when we were younger (perhaps the pizza guy is excluded from this realism).

I would recommend this film to just about anyone, and I can't wait to see if it's ever released to video.