The Squid and the Whale
I've always wanted to see this and I pretty much got what I wanted out of it. As depressing as it is, my wife and I laughed a lot. It's interesting how different people could view the various characters. The first scene on the tennis court, my wife is yelling what an ahole Bernard is, and I'm thinking, am I an ahole sometimes without realizing it? Of course it didn't take me long to see that he was, but is that because of what his wife did? I've never been a victim of that kind of betrayal, but if I were than I'm sure it would change me. On the other hand, I thought Joan was downright cruel, but did Bernard drive her to that? We really don't know because we don't see them prior. So that leaves us with the effect this all has on the kids. I thought the character of Walt was done pretty well, but I think the other sibling would have been better off played as closer to Walt's age. With a young boy like that, it's harder to tell what drives him.
I really liked Jeff Daniels in this. He usually plays a decent or at least a lighter character, and I thought he was superb here. I always love Laura Linney. Everyone else was pretty good. It's a very realistic movie and for me it was pretty damn effective. It just didn't quite blow me away. I was shocked by how short it was and thought it could have somehow gone further. It ends a little abruptly and I could have done without the whole squid and whale thing. Great nomination.
I've always wanted to see this and I pretty much got what I wanted out of it. As depressing as it is, my wife and I laughed a lot. It's interesting how different people could view the various characters. The first scene on the tennis court, my wife is yelling what an ahole Bernard is, and I'm thinking, am I an ahole sometimes without realizing it? Of course it didn't take me long to see that he was, but is that because of what his wife did? I've never been a victim of that kind of betrayal, but if I were than I'm sure it would change me. On the other hand, I thought Joan was downright cruel, but did Bernard drive her to that? We really don't know because we don't see them prior. So that leaves us with the effect this all has on the kids. I thought the character of Walt was done pretty well, but I think the other sibling would have been better off played as closer to Walt's age. With a young boy like that, it's harder to tell what drives him.
I really liked Jeff Daniels in this. He usually plays a decent or at least a lighter character, and I thought he was superb here. I always love Laura Linney. Everyone else was pretty good. It's a very realistic movie and for me it was pretty damn effective. It just didn't quite blow me away. I was shocked by how short it was and thought it could have somehow gone further. It ends a little abruptly and I could have done without the whole squid and whale thing. Great nomination.