Squid and the Whale

I think I have found new favorite movie dudes, Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach. They just pick up on certain realities that only exists in a particular few pockets, pockets I frequently find myself visiting. First "The Life Aquatic" and now this.

Squid and the Whale hit me in a way that few movies do (and obviously passed right over/beside/below Roger Ebert who is at a complete loss to understand this one. Yes sir, too much Dickens can be a bad thing, and no, there is no happy ending to this one.) The main character, Bernard (Jeff Daniels) bears an uncannily striking resemblance to one of my People who I hold in the Highest Esteem (there are between five and seven--my mom and dad make two) and as an added plus Anna Paquin stars as the star student cum teachers pet. Aside from that, though, this movie was a line that fell tangent to my space. Everyone occupies a certain space, your job, your schools, your parents, your jokes, your books, etc. Most movies don't strike that, they run parallel in some way, but never really intersect. I loved Citizen Kane, but the movie in no way exposes or encroaches upon my space. This movie did. Noah Baumbach interprets a Jewish intelligentsia without pity or remorse, and I could not help but blanch.

Maybe minor Dickens is good too.