I asked a few people (my movie watcher friends) if they have ever seen Duck Season. "You mean the Looney Tunes short?" Nope, I'm talking about a fine little quirky Mexican film.
I first saw this movie not on Netflix, but by borrowing the DVD from a library. I have no idea how or why the library obtained this movie, because the library isn't in a very hip spot, and I'm pretty sure I've never heard anyone speak Spanish around there. But anyhoo, libraries are great sources for free (though I have heard of some libraries "charging" rental fees for dvds and videos) movies--usually their collections consist of major blockbusters and classics, but you can also find some interesting obscure stuff that they must have picked up on the library supplier's discount rack or something.
Temporada de patos (hereby referred to as Duck Season, because I can't remember how to properly title things in Spanish) is a 2004 Mexican film. It's in black and white, which should impress your hipster friends. It's difficult to describe the movie without giving away too many details, mainly because there isn't much plot, but here goes. Two teenage boys are chilling at the one's home on a Sunday. Mom isn't home. They have xbox (Specifically, Halo) and money for pizza. All is well for their day of chillaxing.
But... this is a movie, so you know something strange is going to happen. They encounter a stubborn (and lonely) neighbour. Their pizza delivery person is equally stubborn. These four characters mesh and talk about their lives on this particular Sunday. Holy crap, it sounds like The Breakfast Club, and I suppose it is with it's interaction of similarities between unlikely characters, which is what this movie is all about. And yes, there is mention in the movie of the one character having a shitty job, so it's right up the unemployed alley. :)
The dialogue isn't particularly sharp or witty (Though the quote "John Lennon was a woman." is particularly thought provoking!). There are no fancy special visual or sound effects. And I know that the plot doesn't sound that great, but I feel like I'm trying to describe The Breakfast Club, which how do you really describe it except to say that a bunch of kids are in detention and realize how similar they are? I think of it like Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway. The title character realizes that the ordinary is really extraordinary. At risk of sounding incredibly optimistic and cheerful, life is made up of so many micro-miracles that we pass by (apologies if that sounds like something a Nicholas Sparks' fan would say.). Last night, I laughed my ass off over a true story someone told me--I usually don't laugh that hard over Hollywood movies.
Duck Season is a very well-put together movie about boring, dull days that because memorable. The director did a great job at giving the film that dry feel by using black and white film and plain camera shots. Even the actors look like average, everyday people. The DVD copy I watched was in Spanish with English subtitles, but the Netflix instant queue version is dubbed in English. I highly recommend Duck Season if you need some very light material to watch, if you are into the dramedy scene and/or enjoy movies like Little Miss Sunshine, or if you want to watch an unpretentious indie film. Just have some patience because it starts slow--like a lazy Sunday--and ends with that feeling of "Shit, my case of the Mondays is starting already... wait, where did my day go?!."
Recommended viewing snacks: Pizza (slightly cold), Mexican cuisine (real if you can, Tex-Mex if you must; Taco Bell is always a recommendation), Green Kool-aid + cheap liquor (must be equal to or greater than 80 proof) + packet of salt from fast food restaurant = Poor people margaritas, Coke (yep, splurge for the good brand instead of that generic cola you've been buying), brownies.
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