The Squid and the Whale is a wonderfully subtle portrait of a bunch of assholes. Deeply intimate, the story tracks on the unraveling of the Berkman family: Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney and their two young sons. Though it's fueled by the consequences of divorce and betrayal (IMDB has it tagged 'joint-custody'), it's far from melodramatic, the characters feel very real – so much so that I wonder if writer/director Noah Baumbach's parents felt embarrassed the first time they saw it. It's a tough movie to watch at times, but somehow it remains tender and funny even as it digs into the rawest of situations and emotions; I was truly touched.
After years of hearing from friends about how we'd like this film, just last week I finally managed to get Jim to sit down and watch it, despite his deep distrust of Baumbach as a filmmaker. Here, shooting entirely (and surprisingly) on super 16mm in 23 days, he proves to be a deft auteur. I hope he brought some of that talent to the Fantastic Mr Fox screenplay.
But what do you think?