Temporada de patos

Flama (Miranda, aged 14) and Moko (Cataño) are ready for a long Sunday without their mother. Outside, in their suburb of Mexico City, there’s nothing to do, but fortunately they have their video games, porn mags and pizza on its way. It all takes a different turn when the girl next-door Rita (Perea) knocks on the door to use the oven and the power goes out. Pizza delivery boy Ulises (Arreola) is eleven seconds too late but refuses to leave until he gets his money. Eimbcke’s feature début is a small-scale and fresh comedy about grand themes like friendship and life. Hidden behind everyday objects such as a snapshot album, a failed cake and a ghastly duck picture are the real themes of the film: parents getting divorced, budding sexuality, loneliness, the economic malaise and frustrated expectations. When the characters have finally revealed themselves, the director playfully takes the film out of its frame. As a low-budget black & white comedy about kids in a Latin American suburb, Temporada de patos is reminiscent of the Uruguayan feature début 25 Watts. A successful combination of stylised Kammerspiel with elements from the new Argentine cinema, that was the big hit of the Guadalajara Film Festival. The sparse and powerful dialogues are striking, as is the layered acting – certainly by Miranda, Cataño and Perea in their acting début. (SdH)