I first discovered Noah Baumbach when his Netflix film Marriage Story dropped last year, I immediately fell in love with not only the film but his style of capturing the sad, depressing tale of divorce which as we all know can be heartbreaking whether it’s done amicably or acrimoniously, The Squid And The Whale shows us the rather acrimonious side of divorce.

Released in 2005 and starring Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney as the two divorcing parents, and Jesse Eisenberg and Owen Kline as the two brothers stuck between which parent to go too, the film wastes no time diving in to the divorce as we hear the plan as to what’s happening to the parents such as where they’re going to live somewhat day’s they’ll have the children.

Firstly I want to mention the acting, not only from the parents but from the two young actors, they deliver a performance so well that you generally feel sorry for what they’re going through, I know many children who have been through a divorce and the toll it has on them, it’s sad to say the least but it does happen and the two brothers put on such a convincing performance it’s incredible really, considering Owen Kline’s character.

Now there was a certain scene that I did not see coming and I mean really didn’t see coming, the young boy is sitting in the school library and proceeds to stand up walk over to the back end of the library and play with himself, not only do you see him pelvic thrust up against the bookshelf but once he’s done he wiped the white liquid on the books on the shelf, I certainly wasn’t expecting that at all.

Second and lastly the cinematography is amazing, all filmed on super 16mm all done on a handheld camera, the finished product here is gorgeous to look at and captures 1980s New York really well, the Criterion blue ray for this film is brilliant and well worth the money for sure.

The film for me gets a well deserved 10/10 the acting is top notch, the plot is brilliant and the cinematography is beautiful to look at, as always catch ya later 🙂