Bernard (Jeff Daniels, BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE) is a failure who hasn't realized he's failed. A legend in his own mind, he considers himself a brilliant, fascinating, and dedicated man. But as age sets in, the failings of his life begin to drown out his boastings. His once-promising status as a writer is past. He can't even find an agent willing to read his manuscript, let alone a publishing house. His marriage to wife Joan (Laura Linney, THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE) has ended, he's moved out of the home he shared with her, and is now forced to share his children, teenage Walt (Jesse Eisenberg, CURSED) and his brother (Owen Kline, THE ANNIVERSARY PARTY). The two people, Walt and Lili (Anna Paquin, X-MEN), one of his students, who still respect him are on the verge of seeing through his fanciful words and imposing critiques. THE SQUID AND THE WHALE, an autobiographical film from Noah Baumbach (the co-writer of THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU), depicts the fall of a man who believes himself to be invincible and the effect his fall has on those around him.

This movie's a verbal punch, a humorous/tragic film which dares to examine such themes as parenting, sex, and divorce without sugarcoating realities or comforting the audience with lightweight humor between scenes of devastation and assault. Baumbach, a friend to acclaimed writer/director Wes Anderson (who serves as producer), has adopted much of Anderson's writing style, using razor-sharp dialogue and present, but never over-the-top, humor to cover not-so-amusing issues. Baumbach differs from Anderson in directing style, as Anderson's colorful, uber-detailed shots are replaced by French New Wave-esque handheld camera, often with drab color schemes, and editing. But most moviegoers won't see this film for it's directorial style and those in search of great writing will not be disappointed, as Baumbach shows great wit, which was evident in his script for THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU which he wrote with Anderson, but also patience with character arcs and concentration on emotional connections, which wasn't.

The four lead performers all deliver pitch perfect performances, with Daniels standing out. The actor known for filling the shoes of nice, calm, and reserved characters is allowed to open up and he seems to cherish each egotistical, selfish moment of being Bernard. This is Daniels' best performance ever. As the sons, Eisenberg and Kline are wonderful, with Eisenberg blending elements of Daniels' character with his own persona to portray a son brainwashed by his less-than-perfect father well. Linney's on the screen the least, but still manages to follow suit with the rest of the leads, being nice, if flawed, in a solid, subtle way. The supporting cast, including a sly, hot Paquin and a fascinating William Baldwin (BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY), is strong, even if, as in CLOSER and PROOF, they're not the ones we're supposed to be watching.

Overall, besides an abrupt ending which is so sudden you'll feel as if the projector missed a concluding 30 minutes, THE SQUID AND THE WHALE is a great movie defined by wrenching dialogue and riveting performances. Recommended. And, for those wondering, the title refers to a display at a NYC museum depicting two sea beasts battling. This display, in addition to being involved in the character's lives, is a clear metaphor for the the characters played by Daniels and Linney.

B+

I saw The Squid and the Whale at my local arthouse theater which is supposed to shut down by January 31st if business doesn't pick up. Much to my surprise, there were about 20 people at my showing, and I hear business is doing very well. I almost stayed and watched Pride and Prejudice, but decided to catch it tomorrow.

The Squid and the Whale is a very well done depiction of a broken home, and deals with plenty of issues in it's short run time. It doesn't have the budget of any given after school special, but it does feature some very recognizable actors like Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, Billy Baldwin (my least favorite Baldwin) and Anna Paquin, who looked really hot.

Overall, it's a pretty gripping and sometimes humorous film, yet not without slightly disturbing things in it, such as the youngest boy (who's about 10) turning to drinking to help him cope with his family breaking up. He also had a dirty mouth for such a young boy, and swore frequently in front of his parents without so much as a backhand across the mouth.

Anybody who enjoys these types of films should have no problem with enjoying this, but the ending is jarringly abrupt. I knew it was going to end at any minute because I checked my watch, and it still caught me by surprise because it feels like it just cuts off in mid sentence.

B

A very nice film that surprised me, actually. I didn't think I would enjoy it as much as I did. The four performances are great, with Linney standing out for me.

A-

Great script and performances. The story has stayed with me. Strong B+ and borderline A-.

Probably the best written film of 2005. The actors and actresses all around are just truely amazing. Laura Linney and Jeff Daniels both give career-defining peformances. Anna Paquin is also amazing, though sadly she isn't given very much to work with and could have had a more involved role. Perhaps it was some of the dynamics of the film that reminded me of experiences in my life, but I found this to be one of my favorites of the year. In my top 5 of 2005, and top 25 of all time.

A

Fantasitc film with easily the best ensemble acting of the year. The always underrated Daniels gives the best performance of his career, and the two young actors playing the brothers give some of the best child actor work i'v ever seen. One of the better screenplays of the year, as well. It strikes a nearly perfect balance of gutbusting humor and heart wrenching drama. It's a minor miracle that writer/director Baumbach can fit this amount of character development into a film that runs under an hour and a half. Some other filmmakers that feel like their film must be at least two hours to have significant character attachment could learn a lot from this film. Nearly every moment in the film just feels "right". It clicks like very few have this year. Any child of divorce will find a lot to relate to here. The only complaint I could muster is it starts to lose some steam towards the end. Baumbach does such a fantastic job of developing these characters and creating these wonderful moments in only eighty minutes that he kind of gets lost as to what to do for the final ten. Still, one of the best films of the year. A-

Yep, sounds like I saw the same movie as the rest of you all. Excellent work from the entire cast, boosted by one of the very best scripts of the year. Baumbach's made an excellent movie that is always funny, always heartbreaking, and never less then fascinating. A-

Outstanding acting, good writing, unmemorable movie...

3 out of 5.

Well, I don't think I'm as in love with The Squid and the Whale as everyone else is. Maybe because I've already seen so many movies about families that are alienated from eachother. I thought the films strength lay in its exceptional cast and dialogue, and its weaknesses in film technicque or originality of discourse. We get it...unhappy parents make unhappy kids, even if everyone struggles to make things right.

Really wonderful performances bring this a notch up what it otherwise would be, with the most exceptional work coming from Linney and the Eldest son. I thought the youngest son had an incredibly flat character developement seeing as how this was a movie primarily about the people. I did like the tennis and ping/pong match analogies, and the high-brow remarks of Daniels (as the father). I thought leaving the youngest kid alone for an entire weekend was far-fetched, as was what the kid did when left to his own volition. Not far out in terms of what could happen, just not really in line with the rest of the more subtle falling apart at the seems the rest of the family experienced.

Not necessarily worth a trip to the big screen, as far as cinemagraphic elements go, its just as watchable as a rental, and in fact, the intimate nature of a family at odds with eachother feels like it needs the more intimate space of, well, a home.

Has nothing on such films as 400 Blows, which deals with similar content but adds the memorable cinema aspects. This could have been as good as a book, or script, and will be forgotten by this time next year when the "doomed if you split, doomed if you don't" moral is taken up more seriously.

B-

saw this today and most everything has been said above............ Overall, I liked it alot.

************************

Also, I really loved the way Jeff Daniels was written > his views, his temper, his interpersonal relationships, his cheapest...etc.

Unfortunately, he was just a very sad character to analyze after laughing at him.

bump > as I just saw and liked this, glad for its screenplay nomination.

*******************

just a question > is it surprising that such a small film got a that nomination.

I liked it a lot, surprisingly.

Funny, smart, and extremely well-acted. A definitely well-deserved nomination for Most Overlooked film at the WOKJ MPA's a week back. And, yeah, one of the better screenplays of last year.

Solid B.

Not really, well-received indie flicks (usually) get screenplay nominations.

It's very watchable, but I agree with Dolce that the distant, alienated family is not so groundbreaking, even with some occasional sharp dialogue.

Jeff Daniels as the proverbial intellectual and Laura Linney's character are interesting, but neither makes any turns by the end of the film that elicit any real response.

I also didn't buy any of the dialogue of the elder son's character, whose performance felt entirely acted to me.

B/B-

THE SQUID & THE WHALE (2005)

Based on the experiences of writer-director Noah Baumbach, "The Squid & The Whale" tells the story of two brothers caught in the middle of their parents' divorce and custody battle. But this isn't some fluffy movie about a family; it's a rawer, more gritty approach to the subject, and what results is, in my opinion, a very good film, but not quite a great one.

I didn't care for the character of Walt (Jesse Eisenberg) for most of the movie. I couldn't stand how he acted like an asshole just like his father and automatically blamed everything on his mother, Joan (Laura Linney). He acted so pompous all of the time and like he knew everything on authors and books just because it's stuff his father said about them and he hadn't even read a lot of the material himself, which leads to him sticking his foot in his mouth on a couple of occasions. He was also rude to his girlfriend. I didn't care about his character at all until towards the end, when he seemed like he was improving. I did like Frank (Owen Kline) though and thought his mom should have just had full custody of him because he didn't even like it at his dad's and he'd be in better hands with his mother. Aside from feeling a strange need to spread his semen around school, whether it be on the books in the library or on the lockers in the hall, he seemed to be a pretty good kid and I felt for him. I didn't like Bernard (Jeff Daniels) at all though and found him to be a dick.

Laura Linney (Kinsey) gives a great, subtle performance. I'd have to say her performance was my favorite, but everyone was really good, including Jesse Eisenberg (Roger Dodger, Cursed) and Owen Kline. Jeff Daniels (Imaginary Heroes) was really good too but I have a harder time finding his performance great because I really didn't like his character, and usually when I don't like a character it makes my opinion of their performance a bit biased. Sometimes I can really appreciate a performance of a character I don't like, but it's not as likely to happen.

One thing I had a hard time buying was that nobody seemed to know Pink Floyd's "Hey You" was already a song and for a while Walt got away with saying he had written it. I can't see how people wouldn't have known.

"The Squid & The Whale" could have been a great film, but one thing that prevents this is the way-too-short runtime of an hour and twenty minutes. Thankfully before seeing it I was aware that it had an abrupt ending or I might have been really annoyed when it just suddenly ends. It didn't bother me too badly, but I was prepared for it so that's most likely why. I still do feel it could have ended much better and am sure a lot of people will be left unfulfilled by the ending. I do recommend it though, especially to arthouse moviegoers.

*********SPOILERS*********
The reason I found myself actually liking Walt more towards the end is because he seemed like he was turning over a new leaf and not going to follow in his father's footsteps, which it looked like he most definitely would end up doing for the majority of the movie. I think he finally woke up and saw his father in a new light. Before he wouldn't even consider his mom's side of the story and his dad could do no wrong. He saw things in black and white (dad was perfect, mom was always in the wrong). Earlier in the film he explains how when he went to the museum with his mother when he was younger he was scared by the exhibit of the squid and the whale fighting so he could only look at it with his hand over his eyes, seeing only what he wanted to of it and avoiding the rest. This seems to symbolize his problem with avoiding things and seeing them as he wants to. But in the end he goes to the museum to look at the exhibit (without covering his eyes) and it's like he is finally seeing the whole picture and from now on will be different. Knowing he wasn't likely to continue on like his father made him more likable.
*******END SPOILERS*******

Grade: 7/10 ( B )

Eh. I was pretty dissapointed.

Its decent, and I thought Laura Linney and Jeff Daniels were great. The kids? Eh, not so much, in my opinion.

B.

People actually talk to one and other in this movie

Everything about it worked for me: the acting, the screenplay, pacing... I was wondering when the squid and the whale metaphor would come in, and when it did, I thought it worked beautifully. The performances were so nuanced and heartfelt -- particularly the children -- and I felt that from the beginning to the end of the movie, we really got to see the characters develop.

A

I felt that there was an awkwardness in his character, but that was because he was channeling his father, and sort of identifying with him without really understanding his motives. I thought the actor really understood his character's identity crisis and expressed it wonderfully.

That's just my opinion though.

I understand that, but I still didn't feel like a kid, even one attempting to be an intellectual of sorts, would strike up conversation with a girl by asking if she were familiar with the works of Kafka.

B

It was good I guess, but nothing special that I'll remember. I loved Daniels, he really nailed that character, and the screenplay is solid and feels like people really talking to each other. But I also thought that the whole movie forced this weird family thing, making their every action screwed up. I get that there's families with problems, but some sort of happiness and normal behaviour between the 4 would have helped. The screwed up youngster, whore mom, it felt a bit formulaic and been-there-done-that. Also I didn't like Linney or the eldest son's girlfriend that much, and the ending is weak and it just screamed the director trying to stamp this as an indie, just so it can look sophisticated and savvy next to the cheap looking hollywood blockbusters.

Still though, good movie. Just not anything more.

I think I related more because I have a friend who would do something just like that.

It's his personality. The kid is trying so hard to emulate his dad and act "smart", and to him, that is an impressive thing to do with the girls, because he directly see's his father doing the same thing with women. I think it's pretty clear when one child is preferring the mom, and the other is preferring the dad, and they even fight over it. The two kids are having different reactions, too. I think they are so distinctly developed, that it works so well. I mean, to me, it's pretty obvious where the older son gets his attitude from, and why he would act this way. It may not be the typical way you see a kid, but kids can act weirdly when they are presented with a parental breakup, and such (trust me, I know).

I think you are sort of ignoring what the film develops, and are just saying "he doesn't feel like a regular kid to me". It's not all about your own experience, it's about what the film develops and what you witness on screen. For me, the film did it clearly, and so I understood it completely.

PEACE, Mike.

Excellent screenplay, excellent acting, WTF-abrupt ending. I liked it. I could relate to all four members of the family, and I could definitely understand everything they were going through and why.

B+/A- (it's too good for a B, not good enough for an A. Hm....)

this film really never clicked with me, maybe because I saw it expecting a quirky comedy and instead got a huge downer that is a bit too realistic and identical-to-life for its own good. I'm not sure I smiled during the film, even though it was very well-made and well-acted.

B-