The Squid and the Whale

The Squid and the Whale-480P

The Squid and the Whale-360P

The Squid and the Whale-480P

The Squid and the Whale-360P

The full page ad in the local arts & entertainment weekly exalted The Squid and the Whale as, "Marvelous...Fresh & Fierce...Exhilarating...Sharply Comical", but it is none of those things. My date and I saw the film last night, in a theater filled with sophisticated film buffs. There was an occasional chuckle and an isolated laugh, here and there, but there was mostly an uncomfortable silence throughout the film. We all collectively squirmed in our seats, looked at one another and winced when the preteen Frank masturbated in the school library, then wiped his semen on some books on the shelf. Who would find this humorous?? It is a badly conceived scene and done in bad taste, only to be touched upon again later in the film. The homosexual, pedophile market will find this film exhilarating. The Squid and the Whale looks as if it was written in two weeks, while high on coke or something turned in by a college sophomore, who pulled an all-nighter on the last day to write an assignment. The term, "assman" was used repeatedly, each time reminding me of a classic episode of Seinfeld. If writing is to be original, you can't go around lifting catch phrases from sitcoms. The acting is understated throughout, with the exception of Laura Linney's occasional shriek and raised eyebrows. The film's sudden ending was a relief.

The Squid and The Whale is filmmaker Noah Baumbach's rendition of his own dealings with a family's turmoil and problems coping with a bitter divorce. That being said, this movie was absolutely awful. I rented this move after reading how deep, great and astounding a movie it was on several film critics' "top ten of the year" list. If this is what they believe to be the best, I'd hate to see the worst. I honestly wonder if the critics and I saw the same film. This is one of those movies that is so full of itself and pretentious waste, it fails to achieve anything. I was left waiting, the entire length of the film, for it to become "touching", "achingly funny", "witty" or even something resembling coherent or entertainment. I failed to find any of the supposed "humor" in this film; looking back, and reading other reviews, it seems the humor is in one of the brothers' several profanity-laced speeches, or some situation pertaining to underage drinking and drunkenness or playing with bodily fluids. This is definitely a movie I would have left, and would not recommend to anyone, even as a rental. Much, if not all, of the acting is sub-par and anything resembling any sort of plot or rising action is strangely absent. Therefore, it's quite fitting there is little in the way of a resolution or conclusion. This is not the first time I've read and heard glowing reviews of a film, and been sorely disappointed, but this movie was just horrid and is one of the few movies I'm actually sorry I sat and finished, and afterwards felt like I had wasted my time and money.

Ugh. The other reviews note that this story is based on Noah Baumbach's own story of his parent's divorce. But if it's true, does that make him the plagiarizer or the potty-mouthed serial masturbator? It's hard to imagine anyone wanting to immortalize their family with these sloppily constructed, clichéd caricatures of the sort of people you might have found in Park Slope in the 80's. The parents exhibit a reprehensible lack of concern for their kids as they finally arrive at divorce. The mother character is not expanded much beyond showing that she bore her dissatisfaction with her husband by having numerous affairs times during the course of the marriage. The father character is shown as an insecure blow-hard, affected more by his wife's professional success than by her infidelities. The children are, essentially, little versions of their parents, and are emotionally victimized by each of the parents in their (supposed) struggle to cope with their divorce. They develop disturbing habits, which are ill-addressed by the parents who are too busy wallowing in their own miseries to effectively address their children's' unspoken cries for help. This poor character development & over-abundance of unseemly airing of personal grievance make this film feel like a student film. A BAD student film. On the up side, Park Slope was perfectly captured & portrayed, instantly recognizable. I don't know how a big a deal that is considering that it hasn't changed all that much since. This film was a disappointment.

Screenwriter and director Noah Baumbach's tale of his incredibly dysfunctional family could easily have been re-named "The Addams Family - 1986". The film recounts his ugly childhood with his younger brother, his writer-father and aspiring writer-mother living in Park Slope, Brooklyn in 1986. His father Bernard, played revoltingly well by Jeff Daniels, has absolutely no concept of what's going on outside of his own world as he spews obscenities and dwells on his past as a respected writer; of course now no one wants anything to do with his writing so he teaches English instead (Gee, haven't we see that a few hundred times in films?)Bernard's wife Joan, played by a mousy Laury Linney, decide that after many years of marriage that divorce is the best option; which seems odd considering that they have nothing good to say about each other and that Joan has had affairs with at least four different men during their marriage. Why they don't continue with this nightmarish marriage isn't explained; there isn't a catalyst for this decision. Once the separation occurs and Bernard relocates several blocks away to a house of lesser amenities the film shifts focus to the effect the separation has on the two children; Walt and Frank Berkman. Walt, played by a brow-furrowed Jesse Eisenberg, idolizes his father and models his view of the world after Bernard's twisted vision. The majority of observations from Walt's mouth are direct quotes from his father, yet instead of revealing the depth of admiration Walt has for his father these comments simply show Walt as being shallow and pathetic. We wait for Walt to develop a mind of his own but sadly that never happens. Frank, played mincingly by Owen Kline, steals the film as the repulsive chronic masturbator who leaves his calling card on any non-human surface. At one point Joan and Bernard get their child custody duties mixed up and accidentally leave Frank alone for three days. Frank spends the time drinking Scotch, masturbating to his mom's underwear, and passing out on the bathroom floor. The next scene is Joan and Bernard being confronted by the school counselor. What happened for the rest of Frank's long weekend? A nine year old boy left alone with hard liquor and a Oedipal complex is a film in itself, but we aren't allowed to witness this, or a scene where the parents find Frank near death from alcohol poisoning (assuming that could have easily happened) lying in a pile of his mother's panties. The rest of the film is filled with Walt's blatant plagiarism, a non-stop stream of offensive cursing, arguments, premature ejaculation, Bernard allowing his dinner guests at restaurants to only order half-orders because he's so cheap, unbelievable therapy sessions, Bernard trying to force his female student and border to perform oral sex only to be interrupted by his son, and a medical emergency that is offered as redemption but fails. Contrary to reviews I've read, there is nothing charming, endearing, funny, or clever about this film. It truly boggles my mind that most critics enjoyed this film. The only reason I can conjure is that most of these critics were raised in a family as hellish as this one so it's like spending time with old, heavily medicated friends. If this film's final scene was of the four Berkman's going for a hot air balloon ride over the Catskills, and the balloon crashing in flames into the mountains with no survivors, then I just might have walked out of the theater with a smile on my face. As it is, this a slice of American ugliness that no one should have to endure.

I just watched The Squid and the Whale. My sister recommended it to me, saying it was an indie film with a ton of awards and some famous people like Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, and William Baldwin. Having not watched an independent film in some time, and having planned on a date with my Mom for this movie, I was excited to watch it. Boy was I disappointed. The movie is set in the 1980s in Brooklyn, and is about a divorce between two writers and how the separation affects everyone in the family, including their two boys. Everyone hurts everyone, they all cuss at each other, they're all having sex with someone inappropriate or masturbating in public. The job does a good job at making you feel uncomfortable, and maybe that's the point of the movie. Usually, though, there is a point to the movie. What's the point of this one? Divorce is hard? Well, everyone knows that. It was predictable and just boring with a crass overtone. I started cutting mosaic tiles in the middle of the movie because it was so boring and predictable. It was definitely not an enjoyable film, or even thought-provoking. It didn't even do a good job at making me feel depressed, if that was what it was supposed to do, although it did make me mad at my sister for recommending this stupid film which was a definite waste of my two hours.

What could the film THE SQUID AND THE WHALE be about? Is it an animated tale of two amphibians? An adventure? Certainly boasting an odd name, this movie is about a Brooklyn family in 1986, which is split through divorce. Their two sons are left in the middle, going back and forth in the joint custody agreed upon. Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney play the parents, both writers, and they paint their characters skillfully, with genuine performances. He claims to have once been a great novelist, and she is now a successful author on her own. The sons work out their own confusion in their dealings with girls they like. The two actors playing the sons are also very convincing. One of them is Kevin Kline's real life son, Owen. If you have been in a family that has experienced divorce, this will touch a nerve. A very accessible character study, exploring the complexities and inner workings of a broken family. We are privileged to see behind closed doors and see an authentic portrait. Full of humor and poignant moments, rated R.