The Squid and the Whale
Noah Baumbach has spilled out his vitriol in this autobiographical film about his parents’ divorce. 
It can be very witty at times but it is also very bitter. Jeff Daniels portrays the monster ego of the Dad whose influence on the eldest son is none too healthy. 
Laura Linney as the mother is your more stable and yet intense figure and Owen Kline is great as the younger son – twelve years old and into swearing, public masturbation and all sorts of other delights. Jesse Eisenberg’s character 
is nicely constructed and shows the conflicts of an adolescent with such a father. Anna Paquin has a nice cameoesque role and William Baldwin makes a welcme return as the tennis coach. Good script, good acting but again a movie that leaves one with a sadness and a feeling that humans make life unnecessarily complicated for each other. All in all very ‘Sundance’.
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