Duck is a quiet, charming story that has moments of great sadness but is ultimately uplifting.  It’s the story of Arthur and Joe.  At the beginning of the film, Arthur has pretty much given up on life.  Then Joe, a duckling, comes along.  Arthur saves Joe physically even as Joe is saving him spiritually.

Producer/writer/director Nic Bettauer establishes Arthur’s situation through a series of still photos.  Arthur and his wife had one child, a son, who died in young adulthood.  Then Arthur’s wife died after a long illness that apparently sapped both Arthur’s strength and finances.  As the live action opens, Arthur is sitting on a bed in their apartment, a sapling in a pot on one side, an urn with his wife’s ashes on the other.  He dumps a variety of pills leftover from his wife’s illness into a tin, and then sets out with the tin in a backpack and the tree and urn under either arm. On his way out of the apartment, he’s yelled at by his landlord (the kind who watches everything) for having a plant in the building.

Arthur heads to a nearby park (the story is set in 2009 Los Angeles, a very bleak place), plants the sapling near a much larger tree that he and his wife planted in their son’s memory, strews the ashes, and then lies down, ready to take the pills and end his own life.  It’s at that moment that Joe comes waddling right up to him, peeping (not old enough to quack yet) noisily.  It’s obvious to Arthur that Joe needs help, and that’s what he does.  He abandons his plan, picks up the duckling, and sneaks him home.  (On the way, we find out in a quick shot why Joe’s on his own – his mother and siblings were run over.  Joe, the last in line, survived.)

The rest of the film is about the growing relationship between Arthur and Joe.  Joe clearly thinks Arthur is his mother, or something like that, and follows him everywhere.  Arthur gets evicted from the apartment for being behind on the rent, then the park that he and Joe have moved to gets taken over for development.  Joe has to have water, so Arthur determines to take him to the beach.  But that’s not an easy journey from where they are, without a car and with Joe not allowed on city buses.  So they travel on foot, and along the way they have a series of encounters that contribute to bringing Arthur fully back into his life.  He’s a very good listener, and a giver of sound advice.

These encounters form a series of vignettes, many charming, some alarming.  (Joe learns why it’s not a good idea to swim in a toilet at a party.)  Bettauer has assembled some excellent character actors for these small parts and it’s really a delight to see them interact with Philip Baker Hall, who plays Arthur.  Among the cast are French Stewart (Third Rock From the Sun) plays a suicidal man, the wonderful Bill Brochtrup (NYPD Blue) is a homeless man who befriends Arthur and Joe, Amy Hill (lots of TV guest work) is a nail technician and Bill Cobbs (another recognizable face, even if you don’t know where you’ve seen him) is Norman, another traveler like Arthur, but with the advantage of being accompanied by a dog that can go on the bus.

Hall plays Arthur with great understatement and a profound dignity whatever the situation.  He’s an everyday person, no flash, but a good person, and you find yourself caring more about, and for, him as the film goes on, partly because of himself, but even more because of his obvious affection for Joe.  Joe’s just a duck – he doesn’t talk, he doesn’t do tricks, he’s a duck.  But he means everything to Arthur (which is what makes the party scene, where Arthur stops keeping a close eye on him for a time, so disturbing), and so means a lot to us.

Extras include interviews with Hall and with Bettauer.  (In hers, she notes that the film was shot in just 18 days; I’m still trying to figure out how that was possible.)  There’s a photo gallery of stills from the set, and bios on all the main cast members.  Those are well worth reading, especially the one on Duck #30 (amazing revelations) and Noel Gugliemi, who plays a landfill czar.  And, there’s a commentary track with Bettauer and Hall.

Duck has a great soundtrack, including several songs by Leonard Cohen.  This film has great, albeit gloomy, atmosphere, created through the locations and the music.  It’s a compact, well-crafted piece.

Duck is certainly quirky, but it’s really an affecting story.  It’s not exactly uplifting (too many sad moments for that), but it’s definitely life-affirming.  Good stuff.