The title may make it sound like a kiddie movie, but The Squid and the Whale, which screened at the New York Film Festival on this day in 2005, is anything but. Director Noah Baumbach based the story on his childhood–depicting on screen the life he and his brother lived amidst their parents divorce. Children who seem wiser than their years, complicated family dynamics and zany comedic moments litter the film and come through as inspiration from veteran moviemaker and The Squid and the Whale producer Wes Anderson. The movie was nominated for six Independent Spirit Awards and also earned an Oscar nomination for Baumbach’s original screenplay.
Factoid: The Squid and the Whale is not a random title; the final shot of the film takes place at the American Museum of Natural History and shows a display of a giant squid doing battle with a whale.
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