The Man with the Duck on His Head

This was one of the strangest movies I've seen in a long time - it is about a guy in his 40ies who happens to have a duck on his head. No real duck, of course, but a white, soft toy duck (more looking like a goose, btw).

The movie starts when our protagonist Al can no longer cope with life's obstacles and goes to see a psychiatrist, Dr. Schwarz. On his comfy couch, Al tells his life-story: from his childhood, first love, finding a job, etc. And it is always this naughty little duck that messes things up. No no, don't expect this duck to talk or move or do anything. It doesn't. Nothing at all. It just sits there and confuses people... And this is what this wonderfully entertaining movie is apparently about: People getting confused and distracted from the real person by mere superficial appearance. The duck is not doing anything at all, but people get nervous, look at it - and finally escape from Al. I like the message of this movie a lot, since it seems to address the current state of many people being tremendously superficial.

Anyhow - this is a very funny movie too. The things that happen to poor Al are nothing less than hilariously crazy. I guess this is due to the fact that the filmmakers did not want to make a stern, sad movie but something you can laugh about/with. Congratulations, you did your job, this is a great movie :-)

Al is a guy from Los Angeles and he has a problem. Al has a duck on his head. It is just a soft toy that sticks to his (almost) bald noddle, but apparently it is the source of Al's life-long torment. Now, for the first time, he shares his story with a strange, fossilized psychiatrist, who is as weird as the rest of this film.

His childhood - a misery, with his mum (played by a skinny black dude) and his dad (played by a teen) being nervous wrecks, because they try to protect their sun from the terrible truth. Yes, the duck.

I've seen this flic at the Underground film festival in Berlin quite a while ago and was perfectly entertained, really. But even more entertaining was to watch and hear the crowd debating. About the psychological background of the main character. About the relevance of suppressing your true being. About how to face reality.

Sorry, audience, this is all bulls**t. I have no idea what this film is actually about, it is incredibly hilarious and very entertaining, but I bet it has NOTHING to mean at all. It is all a big hoax, with the director pulling the audience's leg. I also bet he was around after the screening, among the audience, and laughed his butt off, what elderly woman had to say about the "rich structure of the underlying expression" (I've heard that!).

It is great fun. Just go and watch it, if you can get hold of it. And don't try to search for meaning.