The first scene of “The Squid and the Whale” is one of the most deftly written, subtly efficient expository scenes I have seen in a movie. The dynamics of the troubled, intellectual family that proceeds to fall apart over the next hour and a half are laid out in a short tennis match. We see the animosity, strength and weakness of the parents and their two kids, and we see who is on whose team.
Writer/director Noah Baumbach’s talent for characterization through detail and dialogue is there from the first minute and carries this quiet masterpiece of emotional life to its perfectly understated, nicely timed conclusion.
Everyone in the small cast is terrific. Laura Linney gives her usual cerebral performance as half of a supremely, self-consciously, intellectual couple of writers. Jeff Daniels proves, as he sometimes does, that he is a real actor in the role of her husband, a failing novelist and professor who pontificates nonstop to those around him, particularly his oldest son/disciple, who recites his father’s every opinion on literature, psychology, sex and his mother.
Baumbach creates every detail of the family’s unraveling over the parents’ divorce with razor sharp, painful acuity. Both sons begin to act out in unpleasant ways, and the parents try to handle their situation as if it were a Norman Mailer novel they were dissecting at a cocktail party. They seem to think that enough sophistication can create a manageable situation for their family.
Baumbach’s rendering of these characters, intellectuals living in Brooklyn in the 1980s, is at times, achingly funny, not that the characters could take themselves anything but completely seriously. Jeff Daniel’s character presses his youngest son to decide in which of the arts he is most interested while explaining ways in which he is not a “philistine.” He also describes Kafka as one of his predecessors. These moments create this world perfectly, but “The Squid and the Whale” succeeds as more than just a witty, amusingly accurate portrait of a failed marriage among people who don’t realize they’re silly. The pain, particularly of the two sons, rings equally true and makes this a wonderful small film, of the sorts, which for me, sometimes say and do more than their bloated epic counterparts. This one certainly does.
“The Squid and the Whale” is currently available to rent.
Another of my recent favorite independent films, “Me and You and Everyone We Know” is part of an upcoming film festival at Gulf ArtSpace, a terrific, vital art gallery in Fairhope. If you have never been there, the First Annual Film Festival, to be held on Saturday, April 8, will give you a great excuse to check out their lovely new permanent home. I am also very excited about the film lineup.
A 1p.m. matinee of “Triplets of Bellevue” and the 3 p.m. matinee of “Mirror Mask” (both rated PG) and an amusing assortment of shorts, round out the afternoon of films. Evening features begin at 6p.m. with “Me You and Everyone You Know” (rated R) and at 9p.m. “The Ballad of Jack and Rose” (rated R). Shorts and animation will accompany the evening films, including short films by local filmmakers Alex Harrison, Mike Hensel and Fairhope native and current Hollywood director Frazer Bradshaw.
I can personally attest to the quality of all of those films except “MirrorMask” which I am eager to check out. “The Triplets of Bellevue” is bizarre and brilliant. It will be very exciting to see work by local filmmakers as well. Since Gulf ArtSpace is one of the premier venues for real local talent and boasts the most eclectic roster of artists showing, I would expect nothing less. If you need further inducement, food and drinks will be available.
Tickets are available at the following locations: in Fairhope at Gulf ArtSpace, Page and Palette book store, Dr. Music or the Coffee Loft. Tickets are in Daphne at PJ’s Coffee and Tea. Or in Mobile, purchase tickets at Water Table Restaurant or Satori Sound Coffee shop. Matinee ticket donation is $8.00 and includes both matinee features. Evening ticket donation is $10.00 and includes both evening features. Advance tickets are essential, as seating is very limited.
Gulf is a not-for-profit, volunteer supported contemporary art gallery on the Eastern Shore at 265 Young Street, Fairhope, AL 36532. Please contact executive director Wendy Robertson at 251-605-5294 for more information or e-mail to, wendygulfspace@gmail.com or visit their website at www.gulf-artspace.org
Contact Asia Frey at afrey@lagniappemobile.com.
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