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Duck Season (2006)

Duck Season
Lame Duck.

Directed By:

Fernando Eimbcke

Starring:

Daniel Miranda
Diego Catano
Enrique Arreola
Danny Perea

Released By:

Warner Independent Pictures

Released In:

2006

Rated:

R

Reviewed By:

Victoria Alexander

Reviewed On:

Mon Jun 26th, 2006

Grade:

D-

zBoneman on Rotten Tomatoes

Agony to sit through. Slow, dull, and lazy. Two fourteen year olds, Flama (Daniel Miranda) and Moko (Diego Catano), spend the day alone while Flama's mother takes off for the day and evening. They spend time eating snacks and playing violent video games until 16-year-old neighbor Rita (Danny Perea) comes by to use their oven to bake a cake.

Rita makes a horrible mess in the kitchen but Flama doesn't care. His parents are divorcing and he will be moving in a few days.

A power outage leaves the boys staring in space so they decide to order a pizza. The Telepizza delivery man is eleven seconds late - according to Moko's faulty watch - so they refuse to pay him. The brow-beaten delivery man, Ulises (Enrique Arreola), demands his money and will not leave the apartment until he is paid. They steadfastly refuse. The boys decide to settle the matter by challenging Ulises to a soccer video game. Flama provokes Ulises and causes Ulises to injure him and break a vase. Flama runs off into the bathroom while Rita demands Moko's help her make another cake. His watch failed to go off on time and her first cake was ruined. She shamelessly flirts with the shy boy.

If you want to see two kids eating potato chips and staring at a duck painting, and a film that takes place completely in an apartment living room, this is the movie for you!
Later, Ulises takes a bath and then he joins the boys and Rita in staring at the duck painting.

I was waiting for someone to come in and kill them all. As the movie progressed, I changed my mind. I wanted a bomb to explode in Mexico killing everyone. By the time it ended, I was disappointed I was still alive.

To further entice you to an eighty-eight minute masochistic session, the first (twenty) five minutes are solely still shots of urban Mexico.

The credits say Warner Independent Pictures and Alfonso Cuaron's Esperanto Filmoj present a Cinepantera, Lulu Producciones and Fidecine production with the support of Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografia. Written and directed by Fernando Eimbcke, the script was written with the collaboration of Paula Markovitch and the advice of Felipe Cazals. Never credit anyone with "advice" when writing a script. Felipe Cazals' advice gets an "F."

What did Alfonso Cuaron, the director of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and his breakthrough film Y tu mam-ambi see in this shallow, boring, when-will-it-end?, coming of sexual age script?

The only reason for writing Duck Season - it's the only thing that sprung to my mind as a decent explanation - is the sexual awakening of Flama and Moko for each other. It doesn't matter that they never have sex. This was the Sunday afternoon they crossed over the threshold.

(We at zboneman.com are excited to welcome the prolific and multi-talented writer Victoria Alexander to our staff. Critic for http://www.filmsinreview.com/ and pundit and humorist responsible for the candid and fearlessly funny "The Devil's Hammer," her column appears every Monday on http://fromthebalcony.com. Start off your week with a good hard laugh. It's a thrill to have her on board. Victoria Alexander answers every email and can be contacted directly at masauu@aol.com.)

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