The Squid And The Whale
(dir. Noah Baumbach)
From the writer of Wes Anderson's modern classic The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou comes a much straighter take on 1980s tennis-playing New Yorkers than Anderson's own Royal Tennenbaums. Anderson also produces here, and the feel's pretty close - same great soundtrack (lots of Bert Jansch in this case); alienated families working out their dysfunction in memorised therapy speak; nicely judged take on the 1980s... all feels a bit like an update of the Salinger Glass family novels.
Jeff Daniels is a novelist turned college teacher whose career is on the wane. Laura Linney's his wife whose writing is just starting to take off. The film plays out the tension of their divorce, filtered through their two sons, who take sides under the strain of the day-on day-off joint custody arrangement. William Baldwin's a pretty smooth washed-up tennis pro-turned kids' coach; Anna Paquin a young writing student who moves into Daniels' new house.
The kids, Jesse Eisenberg and Owen Kline, are great, freaking out over ping pong matches or the pressure of trying to live up to a self-proclaimed genius dad. Peppered with great one-liners and some heart-breaking divorce moments, it's a classy, tightly structured take on a marriage that's beyond repair; funny, great acting, interesting shots.
23rd Jul 2006 - Tumblr
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