The Squid and the Whale [2005]

At first glance, everything is sort of light and funny, but once it gets going, it’s a really painful and heavy movie. The characters aren’t exactly likeable (and you know they aren’t when you find yourself siding with a 12-year old who curses, drinks beer and masturbates in the school library and his cheating mother), but the talented cast presents them as strangely sympathetic. Jeff Daniels, Jesse Eisenberg and especially Laura Linney and Owen Kline are superb.

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