With the greatest amount of respect, I would like to compliment this film on being, essentially, "Woody Allen light". It is a finely observed independent dramedy that is a semi-autobiographichal story about how a divorce effects primarily two siblings, but their bickering also.The story is set in Brooklyn in 1986.
Bernard Berkman is a writer whose career has stalled, so he focuses primarily on being an English professor. His wife Joan also writes, and her prospects for success seem to be on the rise. Their marriage has long been flailing, but when they decide to make an official split, that's when things get really interesting. Their oldest son Walt is 16, and takes after hsi dad quite a lot, but while his father's pretentiousness seems more genuine, Walt is just a poser, and he may not even realize it. Frank is 12 and his hormones have really begun to rage. He spends his spare time drinking PBR, and masturbating, spreading his semen across places such as school lockers and the library. It doesn't take long for the kids ot choose sides, with the bulk of the film being a battle of sorts between personalities, the effect of the split on the kids, and a character study on how each of them views the world and comes to learn a lesson of some sort. Along the way Joan begins a little something with Frank's tennis instructor Ivan, while Bernard raises eyebrows by letting one of his students- a 20 year-old coed who writes racy, provocative fiction named Lili- stay with him until she can find a new place to live.I can't say that I personally have lived through the specific sorts of things that take place here, but I do know (quite well in some cases) the types of people portrayed here enough to say that the film really nails it, espeically the cloying pretentious intellectuals who just don't get it sometimes and the ridiculous, though not implausible pet names some people give their children (Joan refers to Walt and Frank and chicken and pickle, respectively). The film seems like it borders on caricature at times, but ultimately, these are real characters, and this is a very genuine and honest piece of work.The casting and the performances are brilliant. Jeff Daniels, sporting a nice looking full beard is in top form as Bernard, and Laura Linney gives another solid turn as Joan. As Walt, Jesse Eisenberg shows an early version of his Zuckerberg, and he does a great job at playing the burgeoning (though clueless) intellectual poser. As Frank, newcomer Owen Kline (the son of Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates) is a revelation, and I'd love to see him get more work. William Baldwin puts in fine supporting work as Ivan, Anna Paquin is great as Lili, and her character is good enough to have her own movie. Halley Feifer is okay as Walt's potential squeeze Sophie, though she kinda gets the short end of the stick in the long run.All in all, this is an excellent film, and I highly recommend it. It can be quite awkward and painful at times, but also painfully funny as well. It's not for all tastes, but if you like off beat indies that are about pretentious people, but aren't themselves pretentious, then give this one a watch.
November 14, 2011
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