The Squid and the Whale

At the end of the movie, Walt enters the newly renovated marine exhibit of the Museum of Natural History through the Hall of Biodiversity, built in 2000-2001.

In the middle of the movie, Walt is waiting on a subway platform.

A train goes by, and you can glimpse an American flag on the side of the train.

Flags decals weren't put on New York subway trains until after 9/11/2001.

Post-1986 model cars are seen during most exterior shots.

Bernie's car has a Statue of Liberty license plate, which didn't start appearing until 1986.

But his car's registration says 1986 on it, which means it was issued in 1984, so it should have the older blue-on-yellow license plate.

When the Berkmans are speaking to Walt's teacher about his plagiarism of the song "Hey You" by 'Pink Floyd' (qv) during his performance during the talent show, there is a poster behind the teacher promoting reading featuring the WWE wrestler Hurricane ('Shane Helms' (qv)) who made his WWE debut in 2001.

He was only 12 in 1986.

The shelves of the school library include the 1997 Encyclopedia of Africa South of the Sahara and the "Millennium 2000" World Book encyclopedia.

When Walt visits his father in the hospital, there is a Purell Anti-Bacterial Hand Dispenser on the wall in the background.

Frank's mouth is closed when, in front of a bathroom mirror, he observes that he has the same bone structure as his mother.

Joan is heard to speak in this same scene, and her mouth never moves either, as viewed in the mirror.

The NYC subway cars shown throughout the film were introduced in the late '90s.

The NYC subway cars of 1986 would be coated with graffiti both inside and out.

The ambulance that takes Bernard away is painted FDNY red.

EMS was not merged into the fire department until the '90s, and prior to that ambulances were painted in the EMS colorsorange, blue and white.

The fence seen around the reservoir in Central Park was built in 2003.

The Whale Room in the Museum of Natural History was renovated to look as in the movie in around 2004.

When Walt is learning 'Hey You' from the record and from the book, the book has the song in standard music notation and in tablature, but tablature was just starting in the guitar magazines of the mid-1980s and the style of the book is also from a much later date.

The ambulance that takes Bernard to the hospital after his heart attack has the 9/11 memorial logo (Twin Towers) on the back.

The police officer who issues Bernard a ticket for double parking is wearing a post-1994 Navy blue uniform.

The uniforms in 1986 were sky blue.

In the dinner scene at Bernard's new home, Frank asks him what happened to his old agent.

Bernard responds with "Pissed me off," but in the shot he is clearly chewing rather than speaking.

When ambulance arrives for Bernard, it is clearly daytime.

When he is placed inside and it departs, it is night.

The close-up of the letter Frank receives says "Mr Beckman" twice not "Mr Berkman".

When Bernard is in Walt's room, telling Walt he should see a psychologist, a boom microphone arm is visible in the reflective surface of Walt's guitar.

X misrepresents the end of _À bout de souffle (1960)_ (qv)he says that Michel says "You're a bitch!" to Patricia at the end; actually, Michel says "It's disgusting," then Patricia asks Detective Vital what Michel said,, and Vital misreports it as "You're disgusting.

" It's unlikely that someone with such a deep interest in arthouse film would get it so wrong.

Tennis pro 'Ilie Nastase' (qv)'s first name is misspelled as "Ille" on the poster in Frank's new room.

The Squid and the Whale display in the museum is in reality not brightly lit.

It is a very dark display meant to simulate the inky depths of the ocean.

(It probably would not show up on film as it really exists.

) Frank complains that the writing desk Bernard got for him is for a lefty.

Frank is clearly a lefty, as evidenced in his eating, drinking, tennis and ping-pong play.

Frank Berkman complains that the writing desk his father gives him isn't suitable because it's a "lefty" desk.

However, Frank later plays ping-pong holding the paddle in his left hand and spears his fork with his left hand indicating that he is, in fact, a lefty.

'Jeff Daniels (I)' (qv)' character tells 'Laura Linney' (qv)'s character that the last line of _Breathless (1960)_ was 'Jean-Paul Belmondo' (qv) telling 'Jean Seberg' (qv) that she was a bitch.

The last line is in fact that of Seberg questioning what Belmondo just asked him.

Divorce among academics has nothing to envy separation among the working class. Noah Baumbach, the writer-director of « The Squid and the Whale », knows it for a fact, he who, as a teenager (and along with his younger brother), found himself trapped in the middle of parental separation chaos.

This movie comes in so short in length that i think that's why i have to ding it a point. i was looking at some of the other movies i've rated on here and most of them aren't very good.

The opening scene hits us with a bunch of characters who are so unlikeable that you may wonder what's the point in watching their lives for 81 minutes. In hindsight, and after watching the DVD interview with writer/director Noah Baumbach, I'm sure this was deliberate.

This movie has the intention of being a Wes Anderson film...without any of the talent or writing needed to be successful.

The movie chronicles two young brothers dealing with their parents' divorce as they navigate adolescence and their own developing lives. The parents' already failing relationship completely disintegrates as the mother's writing career outshines the father's long-ago success as something of a minor literary figure.

When I saw that this film was directed by the brilliant writer/director Noah Baumbach, I was excited. However, when I bought this film without seeing it beforehand...

Bernard Berkman is somewhat of an intellectual, to put it lightly. He will conjure references and allusions to the most obscure of artists in ordinary conversation, and is a former highly successful writer himself.

When I first saw this film (don't recall the year), I thought it was a perfect little gem. There wasn't one wasted word and my response to each character's anguish was visceral.

"The Squid and the Whale" is a character-driven film that shows a story of divorce in which no one is to blame. The characters are so well-executed, especially by Daniels and Linney who play the mom and the dad, that it becomes hard to dislike either one of them.