The Squid and the Whale

Very of its time, but it’s aged pretty well nonetheless. It’s intellectual, folksy, melancholic, wordy, very indie/mumblecore; it’s the 2005 movie for the Sufjan Stevens/Mountain Goats fan. Well written and performed, tightly paced, funny, interesting (though pretentious and hard to stomach) characters and subtle. Not memorable or well directed enough to be great but definitely worth a watch.

7/10

Alexandra Daddario Movie Marathon - Movie #1: She was only in it for 5 seconds but still looking good!! Movie was pretty good as well.

Ooooh. Symbolism!
Story: 7/10
Dialogue: 8/10
Performances: 9/10
Misc.: 6/10...didn't like camerawork or editing so much. Or the soundtrack really. Or the "I'm smarter than you" vibe celebrated throughout.
Overall: 7/10

The Squid and the Whale is based on Noah Baumbach's childhood experiences which tells the story of two boys dealing with the divorce of their parents.

Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney had strong performances. Jesse Eisenberg still have not truly surprised me until now but in this film I think he has a pretty effective performance. Owen Kline did a great job as his young brother too.

What this film tries to show is that divorce is tough, mostly when theres children involved. It's very realistic and sensitive.

The movie took a back seat to the thought that all the males in that family should have been castrated.
And seriously, "hey you" By pink floyd?? I could understand if a few people in the crowd wouldn't know it, but ALL of them?? For a movie who loves to shove so called intellectual superiority on every turn, that showed lack of intellect all around

This is a very down to earth small budget film but is very relatable a lot of this movie felt like my life growing up, but this film didn't always have you all the into story which can be a risk when a film feels sorta like a it's unfolding right in front of you sort of like a play or home videos. Which I think is a compliment to any film that can do that but you also what the audience to be into the story which was and also wasn't there. This film is short but due to it's very real feel it didn't really need a traditional story structure or a typical ending and could just roll the credits and you'd be fine with it.

I'm all for deeper meaning shit, but feels like 'the squid and the whale' was a forced title

The Squid and the Whale had some pretty nice dialogue and explored some interesting issues but holy crap is the shaky camera-work distracting. The natural lighting was nice and the shakiness was probably meant to compliment that to help create a natural, almost-"home video" sort of feel to it, as if you're just observing what's happening in the background, but in the end it just seems really cheap and tacky. It's alright in the still scenes but whenever anybody's moving or the camera tilts or pans, it just becomes really difficult not to get distracted by it. Or maybe I'm giving it too much credit and it just had a crappy budget so they hired cameramen that don't know how to keep their hands or shoulders still.

The children are interesting. Eisenberg's character's very impressionable and it reminds me a lot of me when I was younger and I'd just be a sponge for other people's ideas, talking about things I knew nothing about and managing to somehow sound knowledgeable in the process. The stuff that comes out of the younger kid's mouth is hilarious. Overall, pretty good.