Friday, March 24, 2006

The Squid & The Whale

.....

This appears to be a case where my high expectations undiid my actual viewing of the film. I don't know what I was really expecting the film to be, but after hearing so much praise, I expected more, I guess. The film is slight, to a fault - it's only about an hour and twenty minutes long, and it feels short.

I also kind of couldn't stand anyone in the film, which can be okay if it's done right, but here, the tone was just kind of off.

That said, mostly everyone was very good. Jeff Daniels continues to prove how underrated an actor he is, and Laura Linney continues to captivate. The youngest son reminded me a lot of myself when I was going through my own parent's divorce... well, except I didn't wipe my ejaculate off on books in the library and other people's locker doors.

I think a big problem, for me, was the lead actor, the older son - it's hard for me to tell where my dislike for his character ended and my dislike for the actor's performance began, but he was... problematic for me. With a character so unlikable (some would say "conflicted", I say unlikable), the actor's got to be able to make me understand where this kid's coming from, and make him sympathetic even when he's being a jerk, and it just wasn't happening. Even though I knew he was a product of two thoroughly fucked up parents and was supposed to be exhibiting the failures on their part, he just made my skin crawl the entire time, and only when he got called on his bullshit did I take any pleasure from his even being on the screen.

I did wonder, once the film had ended, how much of the film was making me uncomfortable because of how certain things about it reminded me of what I went through with my parent's split and their strained relationship while raising me seperately. Much did ring true - especially the scene where they get into a big argument in front of their two sons and try to play their sympathies off the kids onto the other (parent).

It certainly isn't required for me to like the people I'm watching on screen, but I felt like, here, I wasn't given enough to really get who the older son was, except, basically, an asshole. I can imagine a few scenes that could've been added, make the film 10 minutes longer, that could've saved it for me. As is, the director (and yes, it's Noah Baumbach's first film, he's got promise to utilize down the road) just didn't give me enough to feel for these people.

Every scene felt two or three seconds too short, like he wouldn't give the story a second to breathe. If a character had a dramatic moment, he'd cut it off right at the end, nothing ever lingered; instead hhe'd shove in another walking-to-a-random-song montage.

I am planning on watching the film again some time. I'm probably being overly harsh, there were many things I did like, I just had really high hopes and they were not met on first viewing. But again, let me say, Jeff Daniels? Fantastic and spot-on. Much better than Phillip Seymour Hoffman's Oscar-snatch in Capote.

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