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In the decades since its release to critical acclaim and record-setting grosses, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s “Amélie,” the whimsical dramedy about a quirky Parisian woman finding love through random acts kindness, has endured in pop culture and influenced a generation of filmmakers, both for better and certainly for worse. Few times, however, have the imitators been as undeniably apparent about what they borrowed from it as Mexican writer-director Urzula Barba Hopfner, in her refreshingly endearing, subtly stylized debut “Corina.”

A 20-year-old agoraphobic living in Guadalajara — México’s second largest metropolis and Guillermo del Toro’s hometown — the title character, played by Naian González Norvind (“New Order”), wears boots, a maxi skirt and sports the French bob haircut emblematic of actress Audrey Tautou as Amélie Poulain. As if the visual parallels with Jeunet’s romantic fable weren’t already glaring, “Corina” begins with voice over narration over flashbacks that recount the protagonist...

Heading into this year’s Guadalajara’s Co-Production Meetings, the team behind Michelle Garza’s maternal horror flick “Huesera” has shared with Variety news of a new minority co-producer, choreographer and key casting details.

“Huesera” is produced by Paulina Villaviencio from Mexico’s Disruptiva Films and Edher Campos of Machete Producciones. Villaviencio’s recently produced Simon Hernández‘s 2019 Sitges Documenta Award-winner “La venganza de Jairo,” documenting the final shoot of Colombian genre master Jairo Pinilla.

A recent Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences addition, Campos’ impressive resume includes Cannes awarded fare such as Michael Rowe’ Cannes Camera d’Or-winner “Leap Year” and Diego Quemada-Díez’s “La Jaula de Oro,” which scooped A Certain Talent award for its leads in 2013. Most recently, he produced Heidi Ewing’s Sundance Audience Award and Next Innovator Award-winner “I Carry You with Me.”

Lorena Ugarteche from Peru’s Señor Z will co-produce on the...

The lovely, unpredictable comedy "Duck Season" marks the arrival of a fresh talent in writer-director Fernando Eimbcke. His script is vibrant with unforced humanist observations, the performances are natural and endearing, and the black-and-white imagery bears a distinct visual style that well serves the present-day tale without overpowering it.

The deceptively simple story of two Mexico City teens wasting time while home alone has enjoyed a warm reception on the festival circuit, reaped 11 Ariel Awards (Mexico's highest film honors) and received a 2006 Independent Spirit Awards nomination for best foreign film. Although its gentle charms and lack of incident might be too low-key for some viewers, positive reviews and word-of-mouth should help the film reach an appreciative audience as it expands beyond Friday's bow in Los Angeles and New York.

On a random Sunday in a working-class Mexico City apartment complex, 14-year-old best friends Flama (Daniel Miranda) and Moko (Diego Catano) are hanging out in Flama's apartment, his mother (Carolina Politi) having left, somewhat nervously, for a social engagement. Video games (Bush vs. bin Laden) are the main attraction for the boys, along with a liter of Coke expertly poured into two giant glasses. The first interruption of their slacker bliss arrives with 16-year-old neighbor Rita (Danny Perea), who needs to borrow their oven in order to bake a cake. While she explores the fridge and kitchen cupboards, helping herself to samples, the boys must contend with a second disruption: a power outage that thrusts them into listless silence. Potato chips don't quite fill the void, so they order pizza.

With the electricity still out in the building, the Telepizza guy must race up many flights to meet the company's 30-minute delivery guarantee. According to the boys' ruthless timing, he arrives 11 seconds late. Thus begins a standoff, with the bespectacled Ulises (Enrique Arreola) refusing to leave until he is paid. The boys stick to their guns, not so much out of principle as from a teen need to test their power through offhand cruelty. Among the film's many strengths is the way the young actors act like kids rather than miniature adults.

A video game challenge ends the impasse between Ulises and Flama, while Rita enlists the mop-headed Moko's assistance in her string of pastry disasters. Such is the "action," the ennui interlaced with deadpan silliness, tentative flirtations, ethical debates and soul-searching confessions. Without show-stopping fireworks, Eimbcke detonates revelations full of compassion and loneliness and the ache of living.

The film's title ("Temporada de Patos" in Spanish) refers to a rather generic landscape painting in Flama's living room. For the boy, it's a symbol of his parents' bitter divorce; for the philosophical Ulises, who reassesses his life in the course of the day, it's a window onto new possibilities.

The good-looking film unfolds almost entirely inside the apartment, with the exception of a few scene-setting exterior shots, one brief dip into magic realism and a winsome visual of the foursome on the balcony, which quotes an iconic series of Beatles album covers. In its affectionate look at this quartet of souls, "Duck Season" is a delight.

Duck Season

Warner Independent Pictures

Warner Independent Pictures and Alfonso Cuaron's Esperanto Filmoj present a Cinepantera, Lulu Producciones and Fidecine production with the support of Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografia

Credits:

Writer-director: Fernando Eimbcke

Script written with the collaboration of Paula Markovitch and the advice of Felipe Cazals

Producer: Christian Valdelievre

Executive producer: Jaime B. Ramos

Director of photography: Alexis Zabe

Production designer: Diana Quiroz

Music: Alejandro Rosso, Liquits

Costume designer: Lissi De La Concha

Editor: Mariana Rodriguez

Cast:

Ulises: Enrique Arreola

Flama: Daniel Miranda

Moko: Diego Catano

Rita: Danny Perea

Flama's mother: Carolina Politi

MPAA rating R

Running time -- 87 minutes...