Anna Paquin demonstrates her brainwash technique for continuing to get work.

The Squid and the Whale

written and directed by Noah Baumbach (Mr. Jealousy)

produced by Wes Anderson (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou), Charlie Corwin, Clara Markowicz, Peter Newman (Space Truckers)

starring Jesse Eisenberg (Cursed), Jeff Daniels (My Favorite Martian), Laura Linney (The Life of David Gale), Anna Paquin (The Darkness), Owen Kline (The Anniversary Party), William Baldwin (Fair Game), Halley Feiffer (You Can Count on Me)

lowdown:  A dysfunctional family dramedy.

low expectation:   
pro:  Baumbach is the co-writer of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

follow-up: 
    I don't care that it has unrealistic exposition dialogue in the beginning. I don't care that Anna Paquin is in it -though I don't forgive any director for casting her, ever. I do care, and find it amazing, that Wes Anderson could produce a film that is so reminscent of The Royal Tenenbaums. As good as Jeff Daniels is in this film, we already saw the character better realized by Gene Hackman. The only truly inventive -and humorous -aspect involves a beer-drinking, masturbating and cursing young son, but Noah Baumbach does little with it in the long run. The least acceptable has to do with Jesse Eisenberg's plagiarism of the widely known Pink Floyd song "Hey You" going mostly unrecognized, and then gets overplayed on the otherwise good soundtrack.  (from Sundance 2005 recap)

website:  SquidandtheWhalemovie.com

official synopsis:  
       Writer-director Noah Baumbach earned the 2005 Best Dramatic Directing Award as well as the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at this year's Sundance Film Festival for his heartfelt film about a family splintered by divorce. Anchored by an uncompromising performance by Jeff Daniels as the family patriarch, 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 Berkman 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 Berkmans are given a remarkably subtle and nuanced portrayal as a family in transition learns to redefine itself.

--© Official Site

recommended alternative:

Expectation Key


there's no possible way I will ever see this

I might eventually see this but I'm not really expecting much

anticipating the release of this one but I'm sure to be left unsatisfied

such high expectation of this film only leaves room for disappointment