Official Movie Website Theatrical Release 10/05/05 LA & NY 11/04/05 Home Video 03/21/06 MPAA Rating Rated R for strong sexual content, graphic dialogue and language Running Time 1 hour 28 minutes Genre Drama Director/Writer Noah Baumbach Cast Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg, Owen Kline, Halley Feiffer, William Baldwin, Alexandra Daddario, Eli Gelb, Henry Glovinsky, Anna Paquin, Adam Rose, Benjamin Smolen Studio Samuel Goldwyn Films |
THE SQUID AND THE WHALE
SYNOPSIS
Writer-director Noah Baumbach earned the 2005
Best Dramatic Directing Award as well as the
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at this years
Sundance Film Festival for his heartfelt film about
a family splintered by divorce. Anchored by an
uncompromising performance by Jeff Daniels as
the family patriach, THE SQUID AND THE WHALE
also stars Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg and
Owen Kline.
The film captures with extraordinary immediacy
the inner workings of the Berman family in 1986
Brooklyn. Bernard (Jeff Daniels), an academic
and author, and his restless wife Joan, (Laura
Linney) an up-and-coming writer, have given up
on their marriage. Their two sons Walt (Jesse
Eisenberg), 16, and Frank (Owen Kline), 12, are
left to grapple with their confusing and conflicted
feelings.
The experience is a tender, funny and ultimately
moving coming-of-age for Walt and a tortuously
premature one for Frank. The emotional tensions
and strains that emerge during this difficult
period for the Berkman's are given a remarkably
subtle and nuanced portrayal as a family in
transition learns to redefine itself.
Writer-director Noah Baumbach earned the 2005
Best Dramatic Directing Award as well as the
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at this years
Sundance Film Festival for his heartfelt film about
a family splintered by divorce. Anchored by an
uncompromising performance by Jeff Daniels as
the family patriach, THE SQUID AND THE WHALE
also stars Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg and
Owen Kline.
The film captures with extraordinary immediacy
the inner workings of the Berman family in 1986
Brooklyn. Bernard (Jeff Daniels), an academic
and author, and his restless wife Joan, (Laura
Linney) an up-and-coming writer, have given up
on their marriage. Their two sons Walt (Jesse
Eisenberg), 16, and Frank (Owen Kline), 12, are
left to grapple with their confusing and conflicted
feelings.
The experience is a tender, funny and ultimately
moving coming-of-age for Walt and a tortuously
premature one for Frank. The emotional tensions
and strains that emerge during this difficult
period for the Berkman's are given a remarkably
subtle and nuanced portrayal as a family in
transition learns to redefine itself.
BRENDA
Bernard (Jeff Daniels) and Joan (Laura Linney) Berkman have given up on their marriage and decide
to divorce. They share joint custody of their sons, Walt (Jesse Eisenberg) and Frank (Owen Kline).
Daniels and Linney are brilliant as the newly separated couple. Eisenberg and Kline (son of Kevin
Kline and Phoebe Cates) give notable performances as the sons caught in the middle. Director Noah
Baumbach has based this film to some degree on his own childhood. The Squid and the Whale won
the Director's Award and Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award in the Dramatic category at the 2005
Sundance Film Festival.
Bernard (Jeff Daniels) and Joan (Laura Linney) Berkman have given up on their marriage and decide
to divorce. They share joint custody of their sons, Walt (Jesse Eisenberg) and Frank (Owen Kline).
Daniels and Linney are brilliant as the newly separated couple. Eisenberg and Kline (son of Kevin
Kline and Phoebe Cates) give notable performances as the sons caught in the middle. Director Noah
Baumbach has based this film to some degree on his own childhood. The Squid and the Whale won
the Director's Award and Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award in the Dramatic category at the 2005
Sundance Film Festival.
© 2003 St. Louis Movie Review Weekly. All rights reserved, except where indicated.
All movie titles, pictures, etc...are the property of their respective studios.
All movie titles, pictures, etc...are the property of their respective studios.
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