'THE SQUID AND THE WHALE' Parents' divorce was fodder for director

& Ntilde;oah Baumbach has an appreciation of film history and culture.
By MILAN PAURICH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
"The Squid and the Whale," Noah Baumbach's scaldingly intimate, semi-autobiographical account of his parents' messy divorce, and the impact their break-up had on him and his younger brother, naturally dredges up a lot of personal issues for the 36-year-old writer-director.
The movie poses some interesting questions for the audience as well. For example, how much of his family's real life did Baumbach actually bring to the screen? And, good heavens, what do his parents -- novelist Jonathan Baumbach and former Village Voice critic Georgia Brown -- think of the film?
"There's a difference between personal and literal," Baumbach explained in a recent telephone interview. "My family actually likes the film a lot. I think it's less of a raw experience for them than it is for the regular viewer," he continued. "It is a work of fiction. I think that anybody who's close to me knows that."
When reminded of a quote attributed to him in which Baumbach claimed to have "always viewed life as material for a movie," he was diplomatic.
"I think that comment addresses my own inability to feel absolutely present in my own life," he said with a laugh. "Things are absorbed naturally on an unconscious level and you find yourself thinking, 'That would make an interesting thing in a movie.'"
Film history
What has consistently distinguished Baumbach from other youngish American directors since "Kicking and Screaming," his acclaimed 1995 debut, is Baumbach's obvious appreciation of film history/culture. Was that something he inherited from his parents?
"I definitely benefited growing up around parents who loved film. They introduced me to movies as an art form at a very young age and it was a fantastic base. I was aware of what the 'great movies' were, but didn't really have the chance to discover them on my own until my early 20s. It took a while to find my own taste. I remember seeing Truffaut's 'Jules and Jim' for the first time in college, and that had a huge impact on me. It taught me what movies could be."
In fact, it was Louis Malle, another New Wave mainstay, who gave Baumbach his inspiration for "The Squid and the Whale."
"I remember watching 'Murmur of the Heart' and thinking that I should write about kids. I love the French New Wave films because they're deceptively laid back and light, yet there's something kind of sad about them, too. They have a real melancholy, but they're also extremely loose structurally. I like endings that in some way are left for you to decide what happens next."
Actor's performance
Thanks to "Squid," Baumbach has been receiving a lot of praise for Golden Globe Best Actor nominee Jeff Daniels' career performance as Bernard, the film's difficult, troubled, yet achingly human father. Did Baumbach see an untapped depth in Daniels that none of his previous performances hinted at?
"I wanted someone with an innate sense of humor, but not a 'comic' actor, and I felt that Jeff really understood the character. Bernard has this quality of wanting to be revered, but also wanting to be taken care of at the same time. There's an odd tension that comes from that and it wasn't until we were rehearsing that Jeff's performance took on this other life."
Despite a brilliant screenplay that everyone professed to love, Baumbach still had considerable difficulty arranging financing for his labor of love. "I was hoping that when Laura [Linney] said 'yes' it would be six months before we went into production, but it actually took four years. Although the script was well-received, no one wanted to pull the trigger. And we ended up having only enough money for a 23-day shooting schedule."
Does Baumbach see any hope for the moribund American film industry?
"I have to be hopeful," he said. "I see no reason why I shouldn't have the opportunity to make movies with studio money that are personal to me. Great directors do, although it's now more the exception than the rule. "The industry's changing all the time. The more expensive big movies get, the more people bemoan the box-office. ... I feel like all that stuff has to be good to shake up the system and allow interesting films to get made. I think the studios are just looking for a new business model that works," Baumbach said optimistically.
The recipient of three Golden Globe nominations including Best Picture and Best Actress (Laura Linney), "The Squid and the Whale" begins its exclusive area engagement this weekend at Austintown Movies 3.