The Squid and the Whale (2005)
Writer/director Noah Baumbach has a great little film in The Squid and the Whale. Sadly, very few people will get a chance to see it in theatres. It’s playing in limited release right now and despite some great reviews it could disappear faster than Thumbsucker or Everything Is Illuminated.
Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney play a married couple going through a messy divorce while the kids played by Owen Kline and Jesse Eisenberg try to figure which parent to side with. Eisenberg looks and acts a lot like a younger version of Ben Stiller to me.
The acting is excellent and the writing is top-notch. I haven’t seen the other films that Baumbach has directed but he’s won me over and I’ll be renting his other films on DVD. If you’re tired of the usual blockbuster crap playing at the cineplex, and you want to see a solid film then The Squid and the Whale awaits you.
Stumble It!Posted in Movie Reviews at 7:15 PM
Comments
Just saw this in Philly. Fantastic.
Posted by: David Dylan Thomas on November 20, 2005 12:53 PM
Jay, this movie haunted me. The pain of these characters is real and I found the movie unsettling. It haunted me for a couple weeks afterward. Those poor boys!
Then again, I tend to be prudish. ;-) Maybe I’m overly sevsitive.
I place this movie on a “comfortability” scale between the disturbing Tarnation and the milder Imaginary Heroes. Granted, I’m all for getting unsettled when it moves us to action or change, but getting unsettled for the sake of being unsettled doesn’t do anything for me. I loved the dailogue and the acting in teh film, and the ensemble’s interaction. I liked the production vaules. I just wanted it all to take me somewhere. Somewhere more. And to not leave me with visions of pedophiles enjoying this film for the wrong reasons.
Posted by: Shiz on April 4, 2006 1:14 PM
