Four people—two teen pals and a pair of older strangers—learn a lot about themselves, each other, and life in general when they're stuck together over a lazy afternoon in Fernando Eimbcke's slight but sweetly amusing (and sometimes quite touching) Duck Season, a charmer that plays like an old John Hughes picture (a mixture of The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles) with a Spanish accent. When big-haired, eager Moko and lanky, sullen Flama are left alone in the latter's apartment to play video games while his mother goes off to a party, they are interrupted first by Rita, a slightly older neighbor who asks to use the oven to bake a cake, and then by a pizza delivery man who arrives a few seconds later than the “guaranteed” delivery time and won't leave when the boys refuse to pay him. Flama and the pizza guy end up discussing problems in their lives while Moko and Rita wind up together in the kitchen, sharing a kiss, and eventually baking up some Alice B. Toklas-style brownies they all share. The title comes from a painting in the apartment—a cheap outdoor watercolor that for some represents the pain of loss, and for others the exhilaration of freedom. A modest effort that features moments of pleasantly deadpan humor while also broaching deeper emotional issues, Duck Season is recommended. (F. Swietek)
Duck Season
Warner, 91 min., in Spanish w/English subtitles, R, DVD: $27.95, Aug. 29 Volume 21, Issue 5
Duck Season
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