With DUCK SEASON, writer/director Fernando Eimbcke lovingly brings a touching tale to life. Shot in black-and-white and on a minuscule budget, Eimbcke's film is a slice-of-life comedy that takes place over the course of one day in a Mexico City apartment. Flama (Daniel Miranda) and Moko (Diego Catano) are two bored teenagers who plan a day of unsupervised fun together in Flama's mother's humble abode. Videogames, Coca-Cola, and pizza are high on their list of priorities, but things don't quite go according to plan. First, a slightly older female neighbor, Rita (Danny Perea), arrives to bake a cake in the kitchen. Then the pizza man arrives and the boys challenge him to a soccer videogame as payment for the food. But when the power in the building cuts out mid-game the fun really starts as the foursome argue, clown around, and do anything they can to stave off the boredom that threatens to engulf them.

Ostensibly a comedy, Eimbcke's beautifully shot movie also presents some thoughtful musings on teenage life. Flama's parents are going through a painful divorce--a subject he tentatively broaches with the others by showing them a painting of ducks that his mother and father both want to claim as their own. From here the movie takes a pleasant stroll into the adolescent psyches of its four characters, with the group devouring Rita's marijuana-laced cake and wandering into delicious dreamlike states which reveal their naive hopes and dreams. Although stylistically reminiscent of the earliest works by filmmakers such as Jim Jarmusch and Kevin Smith, DUCK SEASON conjures up a world all of its own, and is a welcome introduction to the cinematic mind of Fernando Eimbcke.