The directing, acting and writing is excellent and compressed into just over an hour, showing that great stories don't have to be epic. Where The Squid and the Whale is basically a story about family, Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney are also part of the movie's title. During a memory of a pleasant childhood, their son Walt remembers going to the Natural History Museum and being terrified by a diorama of a Giant Squid and Sperm Whale fighting to the death. Now, with the family split apart and anger spilling over between his parents, Walt is living his "Squid and Whale" moment over and over again.
Just as in real life, the parents' tension bleeds into the kids' lives. Walt and his brother are working through a hormonal adolescence, being pulled in new directions and experimenting with sex, drugs and a general capacity for bad behavior. The parents sometimes act like children and there are moments of clarity and wisdom from the kids. Hearing Walt admonish his girlfriend, only to get the same words back from his father later, we realize that impulses are transferring without any real intention. Good intentions on all sides are genuine and make The Squid and the Whale so meaningful, I think. After movies that beat us over the head with zany, disfunctional families, we find a family here that manages to be ridiculous and completely ordinary at the same time. Regardless of personal or family experience, anyone will find themes that strike a chord.
The most amazing thing is that rather than leave us feeling depressed or hopeless, The Squid and the Whale seems to say that conflict is inevitable, but change can also mean growth. We all have memories we hang onto and we all have difficulty moving on sometimes. Rather than make fun of the awkard moments in between, Noah Baumbach (Director) holds them up and seems to say that getting through the conflict doesn't mean you lose your capacity to care and feel for people. Unlike the parents, whose emotions are usually ready to boil over, the kids are masterfully acted as just trying to weather all their internal confusion and find new anchors. Don't expect everything to be tied up in a neat bow at the end, but know that you'll probably look a little differently at all your relationships after seeing The Squid and the Whale.
