The Squid and the Whale
2005
****½
Director: Noah Baumbach
Cast: Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg, Owen Kline, Anna Paquin, William Baldwin
Noah Baumbach's excellent autobiographical drama comedy about a family break-up is set in Bronx in 1986. The father is a pretentious and self-absorbed writer-cum-teacher who hasn't written anything meaningful in years, while the promiscuous mother just had her first story published in the New Yorker. The two boys, who have their own respective crises, are caught in the middle. Writing is wonderfully subtle and poignant, and while the performances are all first rate, Jeff Daniels is a particular standout.
