David O'ConnellThe Squid and the Whale
August 11th 2008 05:28
Dysfunctional families have always proven to be a rich vein for filmmakers to mine, especially on the indie front; Noah Baumbach - known best recently for his screenwriting collaborations with Wes Anderson - has drawn upon personal experiences of growing up in Park Slope, Brooklyn in the 80’s in concocting a film of his own to helm.
The Squid and the Whale is the impressive result, a leanly-constructed series of vignettes about a family’s breakdown - the parents’ marriage falling apart, their two sons coping in different ways as they attempt to deal with the ensuing upheaval.
Baumbach’s film is a funny and brave character study, and the performances are first rate, with Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney headlining as Bernard and Joan Berkman, who’ve obviously been holding their lives together with a thread of delusion for far too long, their marriage now petering out to a loveless union.
Bernard is a once-published famous author who has struggled to pen anything of note in years, whilst Joan has become a writer of short stories in the wake of her husband’s influence and is only now coming into her own by getting some work published.
They make the painful decision to separate and confront their boys with the news. Youngest son Frank (Owen Kline, son of Kevin), takes it the hardest, and some of his consternation seems to resolve itself into the beginnings of sexually aberrant behaviour!
Walt (Jesse Eisenberg) on the other hand, channels his confusion into antipathy that he attempts to pinpoint the true source of; eventually this becomes his mum after his dad matter-of-factly lays out the details of her latest infidelity.
The struggle for time spent with both becomes complicated and unsettled after Bernard finds a place of his own close by, with the pair having the boys for alternate days which means they’re moving house from one side of the park to the other every day!
Walt is very much his father’s son, with an insatiable appetite for literature but leaning towards the works his dad alone considers essential grounding for a young reader. He’s a little unsympathetic as a character, pretentious and aloof, bearing the early signs of his father’s tendencies towards narcissism and arrogance – especially when stealing a Pink Floyd song and passing it off as his own in a school competition. His resentment towards his mother seems unreasonably out of proportion as well.
But as with the whole ensemble, Baumbach makes his creations colourful ones and his actors are up to the task of portraying them with a level of sympathy. Daniels and Linney are superb, and Owen Kline in his first major role shows enough natural talent to prove the strength of his acting bloodlines!
Jesse Eisenberg, so good a couple of years previous as the innocent under the tutelage of Campbell Scott in Rodger Dodger, shows good range as the troubled oldest son who you hope begins to see the world through his own eyes some day, without being always tainted by his father’s grandiloquence.
Anna Paquin as a student of Bernard’s who has a crush on him, and William Baldwin as a tennis instructor who Joan falls for are also good in more minor roles.
The Squid and the Whale sits comfortably alongside the best smaller films of this type which use the type of dysfunctional elements that most families on the planet surely exhibit to some extent (!) and making them meaningful and insightful creations for entertainment purposes also.
These people feel real, unhindered by caricature or the usual manipulation and sentimentality. There’s a persuasive truthfulness in Baumbach’s writing which I really admired and which rightly earned him an Oscar nomination in 2006 for best original screenplay.
The Squid and the Whale is the impressive result, a leanly-constructed series of vignettes about a family’s breakdown - the parents’ marriage falling apart, their two sons coping in different ways as they attempt to deal with the ensuing upheaval.
Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney as Bernard and Joan
Bernard is a once-published famous author who has struggled to pen anything of note in years, whilst Joan has become a writer of short stories in the wake of her husband’s influence and is only now coming into her own by getting some work published.
They make the painful decision to separate and confront their boys with the news. Youngest son Frank (Owen Kline, son of Kevin), takes it the hardest, and some of his consternation seems to resolve itself into the beginnings of sexually aberrant behaviour!
Walt (Jesse Eisenberg) on the other hand, channels his confusion into antipathy that he attempts to pinpoint the true source of; eventually this becomes his mum after his dad matter-of-factly lays out the details of her latest infidelity.
The struggle for time spent with both becomes complicated and unsettled after Bernard finds a place of his own close by, with the pair having the boys for alternate days which means they’re moving house from one side of the park to the other every day!
Walt (Jesse Eisenberg) stealing from Pink Floyd!
Walt is very much his father’s son, with an insatiable appetite for literature but leaning towards the works his dad alone considers essential grounding for a young reader. He’s a little unsympathetic as a character, pretentious and aloof, bearing the early signs of his father’s tendencies towards narcissism and arrogance – especially when stealing a Pink Floyd song and passing it off as his own in a school competition. His resentment towards his mother seems unreasonably out of proportion as well.
But as with the whole ensemble, Baumbach makes his creations colourful ones and his actors are up to the task of portraying them with a level of sympathy. Daniels and Linney are superb, and Owen Kline in his first major role shows enough natural talent to prove the strength of his acting bloodlines!
Jesse Eisenberg, so good a couple of years previous as the innocent under the tutelage of Campbell Scott in Rodger Dodger, shows good range as the troubled oldest son who you hope begins to see the world through his own eyes some day, without being always tainted by his father’s grandiloquence.
Owen Kline is very impressive as youngest son Frank
Anna Paquin as a student of Bernard’s who has a crush on him, and William Baldwin as a tennis instructor who Joan falls for are also good in more minor roles.
The Squid and the Whale sits comfortably alongside the best smaller films of this type which use the type of dysfunctional elements that most families on the planet surely exhibit to some extent (!) and making them meaningful and insightful creations for entertainment purposes also.
These people feel real, unhindered by caricature or the usual manipulation and sentimentality. There’s a persuasive truthfulness in Baumbach’s writing which I really admired and which rightly earned him an Oscar nomination in 2006 for best original screenplay.
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