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The Squid and the Whale (15)

Noah Baumbach: A Retrospective

,Cinemas
A man and a woman sitting

Drawn from Noah Baumbach’s own formative years, The Squid and the Whale examines the deep currents of two brothers’ lives as they navigate their parents’ divorce in 1980s Brooklyn.

Set in Park Slope, Brooklyn in 1986, Bernard Berkman (Jeff Daniels) is a once-promising novelist whose career has stalled. He lives with his third wife, Joan (Laura Linney), and their two sons: sixteen-year-old Walt (Jesse Eisenberg) and twelve-year-old Frank (Owen Kline).

As Bernard struggles to find an agent, Joan’s own growing success as a writer unsettles the family dynamic. Their rivalry soon fractures the household, leaving Walt and Frank to navigate their confusing and contradicting feelings.

This third feature from Baumbach marked a turning tide in his career, steering toward a more personal style which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

 Filmed in Super 16 mm, this bittersweet drama peppered with wry humour captures the raw heartache and disorientation of a family's unravelling.

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Film information
  • Release year   2005
  • Country of origin   USA
  • Director   Noah Baumbach
  • Runtime   1hr 18mins

Ticket prices

Standard
£14
* Excludes £1.50 booking fee

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Cinemas

Location
Barbican Cinema 1 is located within the main Barbican building on Level -2. Head to Level G and walk towards the Lakeside Terrace where you’ll find stairs and lifts to take you down to the venue floor.   

Address
Barbican Centre
Silk Street, London
EC2Y 8DS

Public transport
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