Released in black and white and made for less than $1 million, Eimbcke's critically acclaimed "Duck Season" is an intimate look at two young boys who, over the course of one lazy Sunday afternoon, discover much about the intricacies of friendship and family.
Alfonso Cuaron Explains Why He Supports “Duck Season:” “I fell in love immediately. Well, not immediately because for the first 10-15 minutes, I was just so jealous about it. I was just hating these guys. I said, ‘I should have done that movie. Look at that. It’s amazing.’ Then the good thing is that God gave us admiration so we don’t spoil our liver and I changed envy to admiration. And then actually something happens. Your heart opens and then you just enjoy the whole thing.
I finished watching the movie, loving the film and became a huge fan of the film and a huge fan of Fernando Eimbcke. The film is very deceptive because it could look like something very simple and it’s a very complex film. It could look as a tiny movie in which not much happens, and thematically I think everything happens. It’s rare when you find a film like this.”
Alfonso Cuaron on the Slower Pacing of “Duck Season:” Will American audiences used to quick edits and lots of action go for “Duck Season?” Cuaron said, “I don’t think that there is any problem there. I just base it upon my experience of having seen the film in different countries abroad - from Cannes or London - and people connect with the thing. On one hand is the pleasure of the specificity of Mexico City and this place. But it’s a very universal story. That movie could have been set in LA, New York, Paris, London and it would have been the same story because, I think, that he’s dealing with very universal themes.
What I admire the most is how he deals with these themes because it’s not that he’s pandering about them. Or same as the intelligence that is behind the film, he’s not pandering about it. He’s just very generous and he just films them as matter of fact, being generous enough to trust that audiences will pick up the pieces and rather for him to give answers, he’s raising questions. I think the value of the film, that if you connect with any of the themes, it’s not that he gave you answers about things. He’s just raising issues. I don't think that you can expect anything better of films than that.
In terms of the pacing, I don’t mind it. The deliberate pacing I think is something that is actually so engaging in this film because time is one more thing that this film deals with. Time is a huge [factor], time is a constant element. From the get go they are telling you, mom’s saying, ‘I’m going to be away for X amount of hours.’ Then the pizza delivery has to be there in one hour, and then he’s one minute late. Then there’s the constant dropping of the water that is reminding you that time keeps going on, that time is not going to stop for you to sort things out. In that sense, time is merciless. The only thing that you can do is take control of your actions.”
Long Takes and the Choice of Black and White: “That is why I think the choice of black and white is so great because a film that is attempting to do pure cinema is taking the format that conveys pure cinema the most: that is black and white. And it’s so fantastic, it is so timely in the sense that this happened in a moment when black and white starts to be cool again. Audiences are losing the fear for black and white. More important, people like Warner Independent that we’re so thankful with, embraced the film, understood the film and went for it.
I think they are showing with the Clooney film ["Good Night, and Good Luck"] that black and white is not an issue. That relates a little bit about the pacing aspect for instance because suddenly, pacing in cinema has changed and people are accepting all these different kinds of pacing. You see ‘Brokeback Mountain,’ the pacing is very deliberate. Nevertheless, it’s touching a chord with a mainstream audience.”
Page 2: Alfonso Cuaron on Supporting New Filmmakers and "Duck Season's" R Rating
