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Overview

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The Squid and the Whale, 2005

Starring: Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg, Owen Kline

Directed by: Noah Baumbach

Written by: Noah Baumbach

Language: English

Country: USA

Runtime: 81 min

MPAA Rating: R

Rating:7.6

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Profile of The Squid and the Whale

The mood of The Squid and the Whale is contemplative, biting, and tense. The plot centers around a crumbling marriage, a dysfunctional family, and themes of unfulfillment. It is a drama and independent movie. In approach, The Squid and the Whale is serious and realistic. The setting is New York. It happens in the 1980s. The musical score of The Squid and the Whale is pop. The movie is known for being a Sundance Festival winner and critically acclaimed.

Summary of The Squid and the Whale

Noah Baumbach's The Squid and the Whale is an excruciatingly humane, often hilarious portrait of a disintegrating family in mid-1980s Brooklyn. Set in the stately yet off-kilter neighborhood of Park Slope, the film tells the story of the Berkmans, a quintessentially New York family struggling to keep things together. Family patriarch Bernard (Jeff Daniels) is a published author and writing teacher whose insecurity over his own lack of recognition continues to plague him. Meanwhile, his wife, Joan (Laura Linney), is grappling with her own sense of unsettlement. Their sons, who are caught in the crossfire, express their confusion in different ways: 16-year-old Walt (Jesse Eisenberg) tries to pass off Pink Floyd's "Hey You" as his own hit in the school talent show, while his 12-year-old brother Frank (Owen Kline) begins to explore his burgeoning sexuality and alcoholism. When Bernard and Joan finally decide to separate, the family must confront their unraveling situation head on.

Rarely has family dysfunction been captured so frankly and honestly as in The Squid and the Whale. Baumbach claims his film is only semi-autobiographical, but, from the pitch-perfect writing and nostalgic tone, it feels as if we're watching home videos of the writer-director's past. Featuring an outstanding pop-music soundtrack (Bert Jansch, the Feelies, Lou Reed), the film also boasts performances that seem certain to earn end-of-the-year accolades.

Details

Language:	English
Country:	USA
Release date:	January 2005
Runtime:	81 min

Cast and Crew See all

Jeff Daniels

as Bernard Berkman

Laura Linney

as Joan Berkman

Jesse Eisenberg

as Walt Berkman

Owen Kline

as Frank Berkman

Photos See all

Owen Kline and William Baldwin in The Squid and the Whale (2005)

Jesse Eisenberg in The Squid and the Whale (2005)

Laura Linney and Jeff Daniels in The Squid and the Whale (2005)

Jesse Eisenberg and Owen Kline in The Squid and the Whale (2005)

Anna Paquin and Jeff Daniels in The Squid and the Whale (2005)

Jesse Eisenberg and Owen Kline in The Squid and the Whale (2005)

Clips See all

The Squid and the Whale: Home Video

Critics Reviews See all

Entertainment Weekly

In hovering, The Squid and the Whale becomes its own realistic display of family entropy, as cautionary as it is educational. Full Review

|
by: Lisa Schwarzbaum

Chicago Tribune

Steering clear of phony melodrama and indie pretense, Baumbach captures a crisis in one family's life that, though it shakes the foundation, leaves all four Berkmans drifting toward highs and lows unknown, each of them only dimly aware that, no... Full Review

|
by: Allison Benedikt

Users Reviews See all

I enjoyed every minute of this film. It's about: "intellectuals" who think they are above everything, going through a divorce, and finding out that you were wrong about something that you used to hold as gospel. I thought it was hilarious and... Read and rate it

05.July.2010
|
by: BangPotential
BangPotential rated this movie0/10

The script and characters were, for me, a bit heavy-handed, but the performances are terrific and there certainly are inspired moments and scenes. Jeff Daniels' character is so blatantly threatened by his wife's success, and so obvious in his... Read and rate it

22.May.2009
|
by: Harry
Harry rated this movie7/10Good

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