THE SQUID AND THE WHALE [2005] review

How much of the current condition of society can be attributed to the fact that 50% of married couples get divorced? A sacred vow taken, and then broken 50% of the time. It may make a person question what, if anything, has meaning in the world of Men. My parents divorced. The Squid and the Whale shows the story of a divorce in the mid-80’s of a couple with two boys, one in high school and the other in middle school. On the screen we watch how each son sides with one parent. Yet things are not at all one-sided.

Written and directed by Noah Baumback in a most penetrating style. The viewer feels like they are in the room with the characters. It makes the the peculiar way all for family members act all the more peculiar. All 4 family members try to act like adults, in mannerisms and vice no less. In trying to act like adults, the children adopt vice and borrow academia, and the adults adopt the hormonal tendencies of teens.

It is easy to sympathize with the mother, and be on her side, but with the knowledge the story tells us, there is absolutely no reason for us logically to be on, yet we are. Is it because her trespasses took place in the past and off screen, while presently we see the boorish father’s actions grate every scene he’s in?

The ending is open. I don’t know exactly what to think of it, or where the characters eventually end up. There seems to be promise for all but one.

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