The Squid And The Whale DVD, 2005

All is not well in the Berkman's Brooklyn townhouse. Professor, fading novelist and literary snob Bernard's separation from wife Joan comes, not coincidentally, as the latter's writing career is just taking off. Their two kids pick sides and try not to get damaged by the fall-out.
Although the well-to-do-family-in-peril drama has become a marketable sub-genre in the wake of American Beauty, The Squid and the Whale has the virtues of a superior short story: it's painfully funny, pointed, and admirably honest about what becomes of its characters. Writer-director Baumbach and his performers turn petty squabbles into titanic struggles, the tiniest slight into a major betrayal. It's also a rare ensemble piece where every cast member brings something memorable to the picnic. There's a freewheeling debut from Owen Kline and hugely sympathetic turns from Anna Paquin and Halley Feiffer as independent women getting sucked into the mess. Linney's warm smiles linger long in the mind, but Daniels has the meatiest role, as a buffoon who somehow manages to maintain a level of pomposity while being wheeled into the back of an ambulance.

Mike McCahill on 15th July 2006
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