THE SQUID AND THE WHALE

RATING: A

Starring: Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg, Owen Kline, Halley Feiffer, Anna Paquin, William Baldwin. Music by Dean Wareham, Britta Phillips, Edited by Tim Streeto, Director of Photography Robert Yeoman, Costume Designer Amy Westcott, Production Designer Ann Ross, Produced by Wes Anderson, Peter Newman, Charles Corwin, Clara Markowicz, Written and Directed by Noah Baumbach.

Rated R, Running Time 88 mins., 1.85 to 1 Academy Standard Aspect Ratio.

"The Squid and the Whale" may not be director Noah Baumbach's first feature, but he succeeds in stepping out from behind the shadow of his "The Life Aquatic" co-writer and director Wes Anderson. With his semi-autobiographical third film, Baumbach proves himself as a storyteller of the joys and pains of life with greater maturity than his mentor Anderson, who also serves as the film's producer. Set in 1986 Brooklyn, Jeff Daniels, in a career defining performance, stars as Bernard Berkman a creative writing professor and published author whose marriage has become severely strained by the newfound literary success of his wife Joan (the always luminous Laura Linney). With two parents who work in the field of literature, this is the type of academic family in which dinner table discussions might revolve around the merit of school assignments involving minor works by Charles Dickens. The tension between Bernard and Joan has become painfully obvious and soon they inform their sons, 16-year-old Walt (Jesse Eisenberg) and 12-year-old Frank (Owen Kline) that they plan to separate. Joan will keep the Park Slope brownstone they've shared for years, and Bernard, who has purchased a fixer-upper on the other side of Prospect Park, will share custody of the boys including the pet cat.

Always eager to impress his father, Walt takes sides with Bernard while Frank maintains his close ties with his mother. Though the separation was amicable, Bernard and Joan continue to duke it out by using their sons as pawns and even spies against each other. Bernard even reveals to Walt his suspicions that his mother engaged in several extra-marital affairs over the years and may have resented his fading career as a novelist. When Walt meets classmate Sophie, his father's influence spews from his mouth as he suggests she try reading Kafka's "Metamorphosis". Soon when Walt and Sophie begin to date, both acknowledge their virginal status, but seeking his misogynist father's advice, Bernard suggests to him he set his goals of sexual conquest higher. His attention soon turns to one of his father's more promising students (Anna Paquin) who Bernard invites to stay at his home. Meanwhile, Frank is dealing with his parent's split by drinking hard liquor when he's alone, habitually masturbating and even spreading his semen in public. He develops an attachment to his dim-witted tennis instructor (played with wonderful re-invention by William Baldwin) who continually ends his sentences with the term "my brother" and eventually begins an affair with Joan.

Jeff Daniels has had a long and engaging career in which he’s played everything from a suave matinee movie idol in Woody Allen's "The Purple Rose of Cairo" to Jim Carrey's equally air-headed sidekick in "Dumb and Dumber" and most recently as Sig Mickelson, head of CBS News, in George Clooney's "Good Night, and Good Luck." Daniels has that rare ability to take pain and resentfulness and spin it into deadpan humor. Though the film may be about a shattered family dynamic and its children who are affected by the razor sharp shards, it's painfully funny as hell and that's due in large part to Daniels's performance. His matter-of-fact tone and the manner in which his beady eyes peer from behind a graying unkempt beard, make you love this guy even though he can be a son-of-a-bitch. He's so unaware of his manipulative influence over his family that it's tragic and funny at the same time. When Walt suggests Bernard come along on his movie-date with Sophie he suggests "Short Circuit" but eventually Bernard convinces them to seek out "Blue Velvet." After all, here is a father who exposed his sons to "The Wild Child" and "The Mother and the Whore" at an early age. Writers Bernard and Joan have exposed their children to as much art and literature as they could, that they've become more like pals to their kids and failed as parents.

Laura Linney, who I've never seen do harm in any movie role, takes a step back to let Daniels's performance eclipse her own. That doesn't mean she barely has anything to do, because despite her antagonist role in the family situation, she is the emotional center of the film. Her fault as a mother lies in the fact that she has kept her sons in the dark regarding her emotional commitment to the family and her own desires and needs. When Walt discovers her infidelity, she's angry that Bernard has vented his frustrations and fears on him, but at the same time is ashamed that her son had to find out this way. Owen Kline, a young newcomer, perfectly showcases the anger and confusion of an adolescent who expresses himself through actions of profanity or rebellion. The fact that he’s the son of Phobe Cates and Kevin Kline may be a factor. Jesse Eisenberg, probably best known for that horrendous Wes Craven werewolf film earlier this year, has finally been given a real role he undoubtedly deserves. Walt is probably the only individual of the film that we see evolve and grow and whether he gets out from under the thumb of his parents remains to be seen. He's still struggling for his place in the world, in his family and his own identity as he continually models himself after his flawed father. One of his most humorous moments involves passing off a performance of Pink Floyd's "Hey You" as an original composition and nearly succeeding.

"The Squid and the Whale" refers to a Museum of Natural History exhibit that Walt reveals to his school counselor frightened him as a child. It's also an example of the talent that Baumbach shares with Anderson to incorporate art and literature in their films. Baumbach is the son of former Village Voice film critic Georgia Brown and his interest in literature manifests itself in the Berkman family, whose home is lined with walls of books. Joan even hides several books under Frank's bed so that Bernard can not lay claim to them when he moves out. Baumbach along with Anderson's photographer Robert Yeoman has even managed to recapture the Park Slope of 1986 -- a time before it became much commercialized. I live right next to Park Slope and my first job was there in the late 80's and they have managed to capture the quietness that once existed. He's composed not only a beautiful film to look at, but one that is well structured and left open-ended. Along with the comedy in the film that open-endedness is an example of how real life can be humorous both literally and figuratively.