From PASTO, COLOMBIA-Via: L. A. CA; CALI, COLOMBIA+ORLANDO, FL ------------The ONLY Tony Kiss Castillo on FaceBook!-----------------

Willing to bet that BOTH Squid & Whale are most definitely and Aquired TASTE!....For dyed in the wool fans of European cinema, The Squid and the Whale, an independent production, Grand Prize winner at the "Sundance" Film Festival, has much more in common with films from the old continent than with those huge budget Hollywood productions.

...IMDb lists its budget as 1.5 Million, most certainly paltry, especially when compared to the 100 to 200 million dollar behemoths that abound in LA-LA-LAND! So if the European style is to your liking, we guarantee that "Squid" will truly enchant you!

To justify my initial assertion, let's just analyze SQUID for a moment:

A) No CGI effects, Nor car chases or crashes, nor 100 Decibel Explosions!

B) SQUID is highly character-driven

C) SQUID is very heavy on intense, highly focused dialog

D) SQUID's characters have almost no physical contact, but engage in relentless psychological arm-wrestling!

E) SQUID resorts to NO cinematic gimmicks of any kind, whatsoever!

F) Considering that both Jeff Daniels & Laura Linney appear in SQUID, with its minuscule budget, it cannot be anything other than a TRUE labor of love!

If the above list hits some of your cinematic hot buttons You really MUST SEE Squid!

If you are unphased.... DON'T!!!!!...Simple as that!

....8******** STARS! ...ENJOY! / DISFRUTELA!

Any comments, questions or observations, in English o en Español, are most welcome!

It's 1986 Brooklyn. Bernard Berkman (Jeff Daniels) is a petty, self-important writer on the decline. His son Walt (Jesse Eisenberg) worships him. His wife Joan (Laura Linney) is divorcing him and gaining success as a writer. His younger son Frank questions his superiority. Joan starts going out with tennis pro Ivan (William Baldwin). Walt pushes aside his girlfriend Sophie as he falls for Bernard's student and possible girlfriend Lili (Anna Paquin).

I don't know if Noah Baumbach is presenting something from his life. All I know is that the father is unrelentingly annoying. He makes it hard to watch this movie sometimes. Walt also presents his own problems but Bernard's ugly personality overshadows everything. He takes away any humor or joy from the film.

In1986, In Brooklyn, New York, the dysfunctional family of pseudo intellectuals composed by the university professor Bernard (Jeff Daniels) and the prominent writer Joan (Laura Linney) split. Bernard is a selfish, cheap and jealous decadent writer that rationalizes every attitude in his family and life and does not accept "philistines" - people that do not read books or watch movies, while the unfaithful Joan is growing as a writer and has no problems with "philistines". Their sons, the teenager Walt (Jesse Eisenberg) and the boy Frank (Owen Kline),feel the separation and take side: Walt stays with Bernard, and Frank with Joan, and both are affected with abnormal behaviors. Frank drinks booze and smears with sperm the books in the library and a locker in the dress room of his school. The messed-up and insecure Walt uses Roger Water's song "Hey You" in a festival as if it was of his own, and breaks with his girlfriend Sophie (Halley Feiffer). Meanwhile Joan has an affair with Frank's tennis teacher Ivan (William Baldwyn) and Bernard with his student Lili (Anna Paquin).

This little family and coming to age drama is a sensitive story, apparently based on the self-biography of the director and writer Noah Baumbach. The story is very well acted and develops a phase of separation of the couple Bernard and Joan and its effects in their sons Walt and Frank. The moment of the conclusion is pretentious and deceptive, with Walt in the American Museum of Natural History recalling a good – or maybe the best - moment of his life looking at a giant squid fighting a whale displayed in the museum. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Lula e a Baleia" ("The Squid and the Whale")