The Squid and the Whale

In his third feature, director Noah Baumbach triumphs with an autobiographical coming-of-age story about a teenager whose writer parents are divorcing. The father (Daniels) and mother (Linney) duke it out in half-civilized, half-savage fashion, while their two sons adapt in different ways, shifting allegiances between parents. The film is squirmy-funny and nakedly honest about the rationalizations and compensatory snobbisms of artistic failure, as well as the conflicted desires of adolescents for sex and status. Fulfilling the best traditions of American independent film, this quirky, wisely written feature explores the gulf between sexes, generations, art and commerce, and Brooklyn and Manhattan.