The Squid and the Whale (2005)
December 14, 2024 8:54 AM - Subscribe
Follows two young boys dealing with their parents' divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980s.
I also saw this with my wife when it came out. I did not have as strong a reaction as Rash's friend -- I thought it was fine, the drama of angsty New York intellectuals not really grabbing me -- but it became one of my wife's favorite movies. Go figure.
posted by Pedantzilla at 10:51 AM on December 14
posted by Pedantzilla at 10:51 AM on December 14
I liked this a lot. Would have watched it much sooner if I’d realized that Laura Linney was in it.
Walt’s desperate need to be perceived as an intellectual, and failure to engage with life on his own terms, reminds me of my teenaged self. Poor kid.
posted by bunderful at 11:42 AM on December 14
Walt’s desperate need to be perceived as an intellectual, and failure to engage with life on his own terms, reminds me of my teenaged self. Poor kid.
posted by bunderful at 11:42 AM on December 14
This film can't be discussed without mention of the directorial gas-lighting - you telling me nobody in that room would recognize Pink Floyd's "Hey You" in 1986? Get out of here!
posted by Rash at 1:05 PM on December 14
posted by Rash at 1:05 PM on December 14
Oh, I have a story to share about this one.
I got to see this at Sundance 2005. Now the thing about Sundance screenings is that some are in Park City, UT and some actually are actually held in a theater in downtown Salt Lake City, which is where I saw this.
There's a joke in the movie where Jeff Daniels' character is telling both sons that he's divorcing their mother, but he tries to reassure them that he's not going far, he's getting an apartment "on the other side of the Park", meaning Prospect Park. The subtext is that he's leaving the family's Park Slope brownstone to an apartment in Crown Heights or Flatbush -- which would be considered a real step down in the 1980s.
The younger of the two boys complains "Other side of the park? Is that even still in Brooklyn?" and suddenly I am the only person in the theater laughing in a room full of Mormons who have no idea why that sheltered boy's question is funny.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 4:57 PM on December 14 [5 favorites]
I got to see this at Sundance 2005. Now the thing about Sundance screenings is that some are in Park City, UT and some actually are actually held in a theater in downtown Salt Lake City, which is where I saw this.
There's a joke in the movie where Jeff Daniels' character is telling both sons that he's divorcing their mother, but he tries to reassure them that he's not going far, he's getting an apartment "on the other side of the Park", meaning Prospect Park. The subtext is that he's leaving the family's Park Slope brownstone to an apartment in Crown Heights or Flatbush -- which would be considered a real step down in the 1980s.
The younger of the two boys complains "Other side of the park? Is that even still in Brooklyn?" and suddenly I am the only person in the theater laughing in a room full of Mormons who have no idea why that sheltered boy's question is funny.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 4:57 PM on December 14 [5 favorites]
This was a remarkably bad first date movie, as I am occasionally reminded by the person who, despite that, married me.
posted by jedicus at 6:19 PM on December 14 [8 favorites]
posted by jedicus at 6:19 PM on December 14 [8 favorites]
The best scene is when the dad is trying to grab that cat, and the son finally sees him for what he is. Powerful.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 1:54 PM on December 15
posted by St. Peepsburg at 1:54 PM on December 15
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posted by Rash at 10:23 AM on December 14