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Duck

A beguiling and disappointing debut
Rating: 2.0 stars
August 22, 2007 2:22:00 PM

VIDEO: Watch the trailer for Duck.

In Nicole Bettauer’s beguiling, disappointing feature debut, Arthur (Philip Baker Hall) wanders a desolate LA with his pet duck trying to help people. The year is 2009, Jeb Bush is president, and with pensions and Social Security gone, Arthur has nowhere to turn. Bettauer shows a sharp understanding of our nation’s moral fall over the last 10 years and where that might lead us, but her simplistic portrayal of Arthur as innocent martyr undercuts the worthy theme. A character that represents the last moral voice in a world corrupted by the Bush ethos shouldn’t be reduced to a cliché. Hall does his best, spouting out Bettauer’s laconic one-liners and looking absurdly hopeful, but it’s all he’s given to do. Maybe Bettauer feared that a more complex character would distract the audience from her vision of the world headed by yet another Bush. Hall, who musters up so much emotion within a narrow role, deserves better, though the Aflac duck is all he’s quacked up to be.
COMMENTS

I have a question for the reviewer: How familiar are you with the genre of social satire within the realm of speculative fiction? Have you read Being There, All the Names, Zanesville, Ferdydurke, Hrabl's books, etc? Have you seen films within this genre (ie. Being There, Brasil- although that leans towards fantasy, etc.)? I am just curious because some of the comments that you made caused me to wonder if you understood the structure of this genre... the character is a classic archetype of a simpleton/ everyman who observes in wide-eyed wonder, the episodic structure of the film is intentional to drive the point and the exaggerated characters & themes are presented to poke fun of the current political situation. Also, the film is not all that odd in using the "duck cam"... the French film, Baxter, uses this technique throughout the film to show the point-of-view of a demented bull dog. Just things to ponder- coming from one who watches and reads way too much genre work and know obscure film and literature facts for over 25 yrs. Cheers!

POSTED BY Alex W. AT 08/28/07 2:18 AM

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