Black & White World

The Squid and the Whale (2005)

Noah Baumbach’s semi-autobiographical tale is lovingly written and well-acted, but… you know, one thing about writing my movie blog reviews several weeks after seeing the movie—you get to know which movies stick with you and which ones don’t.  And The Squid and the Whale, although I enjoyed it when I watched it and rated it highly, has not stuck with me very much at all.

What I recall most are the performances, particularly from the two boys playing the sons:  Jesse Eisenberg and Owen Kline (son of Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates).  Both were very good—these are difficult roles to play; boys that have been conditioned to intellectualize rather than rely on emotions.  I thought both were quite impressive.  Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney are also excellent—although I have to say, Laura Linney doesn’t feel like she has too many surprises left in her.  When she showed up in this movie I thought, “Of course.  This is exactly the kind of movie Laura Linney would do and exactly the kind of role.” She has a penchant for these off-beat indie dramas.

One criticism I have is the use of the song “Hey You,” which Eisenberg’s character performs as though it were his own at the high school talent show.  I was in high school in 1984, and I can assure that he wouldn’t have been able to pull of a Pink Floyd song as his own at my school.  The song works great for the character, but it’s nowhere near obscure enough.  Little things like that can take a viewer out of a movie so easily, and it seems easy enough to resolve, so it’s perplexing to find in a film that’s otherwise pretty meticulous.  Overall, I enjoyed it a lot while watching, but as it turns out—not particularly memorable.