When their parents announce that they are splitting up 16 year old walt & 12 year old frank are relegated to alternating weekends & a jumbled calendar of mom or dad nights. The kids are left to grapple with the confusing & conflicted feelings that arise from the sudden collapse of their parents marriage. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 01/22/2008 Starring: Jeff Daniels Laura Linney Run time: 81 minutes Rating: R
The Squid and the Whale follows the divorce of Joan (Laura Linney, You Can Count on Me) and Bernard Berkman (Jeff Daniels, The Purple Rose of Cairo) as it wreaks havoc on the emotional lives of their two sons, Walt (Jesse Eisenberg, Roger Dodger) and Frank (Owen Kline, The Anniversary Party). Though there's no plot in the usual sense, the movie progresses with growing emotional force from the separation into the bitter fighting between Joan and Bernard and the hapless, floundering behavior of Walt and Frank, who act out through plagiarism, sexual acts, and drinking. Some viewers may find the ending too diffuse; others will appreciate that writer/director Noah Baumbach (Mr. Jealousy) doesn't wrap up the messiness of life in a false cinematic package. Either way, viewers will appreciate how the specificity of the personalities makes The Squid and the Whale so compelling, as Baumbach has drawn the characters with such detail, both engaging and off-putting, that they leap off the screen. Naturally, he's greatly helped by the cast: Linney, Eisenberg, Kline, and especially Daniels bite into these often unsympathetic portraits and give fearlessly honest performances, interlocked in both painful and funny ways--rarely have family dynamics been captured so vividly. If there was an ensemble Oscar, this cast would deserve it. --Bret Fetzer
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
3 stars out of 4:
The Bottom Line: Much better at focusing on character than plot or narrative, The Squid and the Whale is an interesting film which breezes through its short running length and showcases a handful of perfect performances.
Modern Classic!:
I don't know how Laura Lindley does it but I can always count on her being in a great independent film. This one is wonderful though I still can't make sense of the ending. A couple divorce and the poor relationship between the couple and the boys disintegrate even further. This family wasn't content or happy before the divorce (which makes sense) but the divorce is an adjustment in itself. The father is a writer who can't get anything published while the mother is prospering. She finds other men to date... more info
Bad, Bad Luck:
THIS REVIEW IS ABOUT THE PACKAGING NOT THE FILM... As happens far too often the copy of the DVD of this film I received arrived with the disc off the spindle and scratched to high heaven. Sony agreed to take it back but wanted me, in these days of high petrol prices, to take it out to a FedEx in the suburbs. They offered no alternative. And since the price it would of cost me in gas was more than I paid for the disc in the first place I decided against returning the unwatchable disc. Hence I couldn't... more info
Not worth it for me.:
I was expecting great things from The Squid and the Whale. After all, critical buzz about the picture when it was released was good, and the film was nominated for some Golden Globes and and Oscar. Well, either my hopes were too high, or the film just wasn't as good as everyone made it out to be. The film relates the disintegration of the Berkman family, who are living in 1980s Brooklyn. Father Bernard (Jeff Daniels) is a pompous, know-it-all novelist who has begun the downward arc of his career path... more info
