This is one filet of a film brotha

Having never endured the divorce of my parents, I'm not sure I could ever truly empathize with the kids in Noah Baumbach's "The Squid and the Whale," but that fact in no way dulled the impact the film had on me. Produced by Wes Anderson, "Squid" factors in all the subtle dark humor, and a bit of the intricate set decoration, of "The Royal Tenenbaums" and "Rushmore" while at the same time feeling, unlike Anderson's directorial triumphs, wholly organic and unrehearsed.\nIt's 1986, Park Slope, Brooklyn, and 16-year-old Walt (Jesse Eisenberg, autobiographically modeled after Baumbach himself) and 12-year-old Frank (Owen Kline, son of Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates) must deal with their parents Bernard (Jeff Daniels) and Joan's (Laura Linney) divorce. What ensues is a series of vignettes pinpointing the tragedy of divorce from the point of view of a high-brow family who can't overcome their own vanities and excesses, and the cast is uniformly spot-on. Anna Paquin, Halley Feifer and even William Baldwin shine in vital supporting roles.\nAs with all Anderson-related fare, "Squid" has both a wonderful screenplay and an excellent soundtrack. Unjustly denied the Best Original Screenplay Oscar in favor of "Crash," Baumbach's screenplay cuts to the heart of an elitist American family's struggles with life, love and the obsessive everyday minutae that both drives and stunts them. The soundtrack boasts cuts by Loudon Wainwright III, The Cars, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, The Feelies, Bert Jansch and Pink Floyd (played during a pivotal plot point), as well as one of Lou Reed's finest moments, "Street Hassle," over the end credits.\nExtra features on this single-disc edition include a mostly valuable feature-length commentary track by Baumbach, on which he details the more autobiographical aspects of the film. Also included are a rather standard making-of featurette during which nothing of much note is revealed and a medium-length conversation with Baumbach and film critic Philip Lopate. Lopate is no Pauline Kael, but he makes a valiant run at getting to the bottom of the film, despite Baumbach's relative shyness. There's no sense avoiding the fact that this disc is fairly slim on features, and "Squid" itself is only 78 minutes, but it still deserves a rental or purchase for being one of the most incisive and heartbreaking films of 2005.\nNominated for Best Picture, Actor (Daniels) and Actress (Linney) in a Musical or Comedy at this year's Golden Globes, "The Squid and the Whale" is anything but a traditional comedy. There are far more moments of pain and harsh, awkward reality than irreverent comic wit, and Baumbach juggles it all with an uncommon assurance. Jeff Daniels' Bernard Berkman describes "A Tale of Two Cities" as "minor Dickens" in an early scene, but I get the sense that several years from now he wouldn't describe "Squid" as minor Baumbach, it being a very personal film from an abnormally committed filmmaker who wishes to tell the story of a childhood trauma as he felt it. Right on, brotha.