This is what I call fresh film-making. With "The Squid and the Whale", writer-director Noah Baumbach made a funny, sad, intelligent and sometimes bizarre film with great characters. If you haven't heard anything of it before you might think you're watching the latest Wes Anderson-film because of the characters. The father (brilliantly played by Jeff Daniels): a writer without success, but a huge ego. The mother (equally brilliant: Laura Linney): the most "normal" of the bunch, with an interesting taste in men. The kids (Jesse Eisenberg and Owen Kline): playing cover versions of Pink Floyd and pretending having written them themselves or masturbating and spreading the semen on books and school lockers. But "The Squid and the Whale" has more than just its characters. It's a precise analysis of family divorce and the dynamics behind it. When mother and son are done with blaming each other and are starting to try to understand what each of them is going through, that is actually a really heart-warming moment. And if I'm allowed to say it, also a typical Wes Anderson-moment.
Review of The Squid and the Whale
