|
The Squid and the Whale
Directed by: Noah Baumbach
Starring: Jeff Daniels
Genre:
Drama
Run Time: 81 min.
Release Date:
January 2005
On The Web:
Official
Site
Teaser:
Movie Trailer
Reviewed by
Byron Merritt |
THE SQUID AND THE WHALE
is quite difficult to give a negative review to because I felt it
manhandled the parent/child relationship with some great child actors,
but failed in every other aspect.
Jeff Daniels (THE LOOKOUT)
stars as Bernard, a writer of minimal fame who's marriage is on the
brink of implosion. We first meet Bernard and his dysfunctional family
while they play tennis and quickly learn that his wife Joan (Laura
Linney, THE
EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE) is fed up with her husband's
over-compensating ego related to his failed writing career. But the
marriage has lasted nearly sixteen years and produced two children. The
eldest, Walt (Jesse Eisenberg), is in high school and idolizes his
father, so much so that he tries to be just as intellectual as his dad
but can't quite reach the mark. At one point during a talent show he
goes so far as to steal a new Pink Floyd song and play it off as his
own, thus winning the grand prize. The younger brother, Frank (Owen
Kline), is attached to his mother but also loves Walt, and the stress of
the marriage's break-up and subsequent family breakdown leave him with
embittered feelings toward everyone, including himself; he starts
drinking beer and whiskey, and comparing his looks to his mother.
It is the young boys who really pulled this movie up to a higher
standing that it could ever hope to be and the script helped them out,
making their portrayals relatively interesting to watch. For instance,
as Walt discovers the truth about his father and his mother (how screwed
up they both are) he has to come to terms with becoming his own man.
It's a tough realization for anyone to come to and watching Walt battle
his younger self only to be bucked back to reality by his new, older
self is a great way of showing self actualization.
Young Frank doesn't have that option, though. He's too young to know
about such things and so acts out against the world around him. He
drinks, curses like his father, tries to hate his mother, and ejaculates
on library books as a show of defiance towards his parents' chosen
professions (writing).
So that's the good parts of this award winning flick. But let me tell
you about the "not-so-good" parts ...
The cameras used for filming are often hand-held and although this can
give a sense of interaction on the audiences' part, it felt more wobbly
than anything.
The script, although interesting, didn't translate well to film. There's
really no angst one feels for these characters, only a sense of
impending depression for what awaits them ("Oh boy, another family
dynamic movie with screwed up parents and children. Now where did I put
my Prozac?") And finally, the title of the film is The Squid and
the Whale. Titles are important to me; they give me a sense of what the
film's going to be about, even if in relative terms. But this title is
in reference to something that appeared to be thrown into the movie at
the last minute. Now I realize that may not be the case, but that's how
it felt. We never know what this squid and this whale are until
three-fourths of the way through the film, as if it was supposed to tie
it all up for us in a nice little psychological package. Well it didn't
work for me (I'm not going to give away what The Squid and the Whale is
in reference to just in case some of you decide to watch the movie).
Psychology students should check out this film for research, but the
general population might need to stock up on their anti-depressants
before sitting through it.
(back to top) |
Image from The Squid and
the Whale
DVD cost: $9.86
Purchase:
Tower.com
Film Review Stew
Favorite? No.
Stew Poo-Poo? No.
Newsworthy:
Laura Linney was given the
script by Eric Stoltz in 2000 while they were filming The House of
Mirth. She agreed to do it immediately.
Movie Quote: "It's
like... we were pals then... we'd do things together... we'd look at the
knight armor at the Met. The scary fish at the Natural History Museum. I
was always afraid of the squid and whale fighting. I can only look at it
with my hands in front of my face."
Other Actors/Actresses
from The Squid and the Whale
   |
