Duck Season

My rating has to be provisional on this pleasantly minimalist film about four kids hanging out on a Sunday afternoon in a Mexico City apartment. They play video games, eat junk food, and make messes of many kinds. There’s a lot of deadpan humor and sly characterization. The two 14-year-old boys, 16-year-old neighbor girl, and a slightly older pizza delivery boy who comes to stay, are all appealing performers while remaining true to life. The black and white cinematography is jazzy and acute, when it isn’t gaping slackjawed, and the film doesn’t try too hard or overstay its welcome. And in fact, my viewing was cut five minutes short by a defective disk, so I don’t have a settled opinion. But if you give this debut film from Fernando Eimbcke a chance, you’ll likely start noticing and laughing in a process of gradual amplification. (2004, dvd, n.) *6+* (MC-74.)