
In his third feature, director Noah Baumbach scores a triumph
with an autobiographical coming-of-age story about a teenager whose writer-parents
are divorcing. The father (Jeff Daniels) and mother (Laura 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. In detailing
bohemian-bourgeois life in brownstone Brooklyn, Baumbach is spot on. Everyone
proceeds from good intentions and acts rather badly, in spite or because of their
manifest intelligence. Fulfilling the best traditions of the American independent
film, this quirky, wisely written feature explores the gulf between sexes, generations,
art and commerce, Brooklyn and Manhattan. 88 min. USA, 2005 A Samuel Goldwyn Films/Sony
Pictures Entertainment Release. * Director expected to attend.
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How does a father keep his son's respect in a divided and threatening world?
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