91) The Squid and The Whale
Director: Noah Baumbach
Year: 2005
Plot Summary: Based on the true childhood experiences of Noah Baumbach and his brother, The Squid and the Whale tells the touching story of two young boys dealing with their parents divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980's.
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Noah Baumbach is the king of the family drama and also one of the most promising filmmakers in American independent cinema. His writing alongside Wes Anderson helped last year's animated comedy The Fantastic Mr. Fox become one my favourite films of 2009, but Baumbach's masterpiece is his semi-autobiographical comedy The Squid And The Whale.The deservedly Oscar nominated script boasts not only realistic, brilliant dialogue and a witty, sharp sense of humour but also provides a fascinating insight into the lives of this pseudo-intellectual, dysfunctional family. Despite being loathsome at times and despite the fact that their story is such an ordinary one - there are no unexpected developments or narrative surprises - Baumbach somehow makes his family's crisis mesmerising and deeply involving.
The aforementioned fact that all the lead characters are, in one way or another, unlikeable gives The Squid And The Whale an authentic, realistic and refreshingly lifelike quality. By the half way point, you almost forget that this is more or less a work of fiction and find yourself swept into their lives. Baumbach's brave style of direction which unobtrusive, flawed and documentary like complements this quality perfectly. As do the stunning performances from the entire cast made up of the spectacular Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, Jesse Eissenberg and Owen Kline.
Moreover, it's such a subtle piece of work that never feels overly dramatic or cinematic. While you do feel stings of sadness and heartbreak in some of the scenes, especially towards the end, the film never tries to influence the viewer's emotional response and lets the tragedy of these characters' lives speak for itself.
At just over an hour long, The Squid And The Whale is short but sweet. It's a realistic family drama that is fresh, funny, smart, touching and, well, simply an outstanding piece of work.
5/5
4 comments:
Love this film (naturally), especially Jesse Eisenberg. I AM his character. Also, that song at the end is my all-time favourite song <3. Including any Bruce.
I love The Squid And The Whale more and more every time I watch it. :)
Eisenberg is great in it although i'm not a huge fan of his normally.
I can see a bit of myself in all 4 of the main characters.
Especially Walt and Bernard although i don't like admitting the latter.
It's Lou Reed at the end, right?
Shamefully, I'm not aware of much of his music. :|
And yes, I am disgusted with myself for that.
You seen Roger Dodger? I think you'll really like it.
"It's Lou Reed at the end, right?
Shamefully, I'm not aware of much of his music. :|
And yes, I am disgusted with myself for that."
DUDE!!!
Kill yourself.
After you listen to Transformer. :). I kid. But it's a top 5 album. Also, Bruce actually has a verse in Street Hassle which makes it doubly awesome.
No, never heard of it. I'll have to check it out. :)
He's one of those people I know I will love but just haven't got around to downloading yet. Haha. I have an iTunes voucher though so I might buy a few albums when I'm home. :)
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