Radio Days (1987)

Woody Allen’s tribute to his childhood is a nice little movie. Seth Green(!) plays a fictionalized version of Allen as a child, growing up in Rockaway Beach in the late 1930s. The narrator (Allen) shares the direct and indirect role of radio shows in the lives of his family members in a series of vignettes, mostly comic, but sometimes rather melancholy. There are a few running plot lines–the rise of radio star Sally White (Mia Farrow); Aunt Bea’s (Dianne Wiest) search for love; and the mystery of his father’s (Michael Tucker) job–and they do more than just provide backbone and structure. I really liked it because it’s sentimental without being saccharine. Allen approaches his childhood with real yearning for the past, but it’s grounded. Towards the end of the film, one of the radio personalities muses if anyone will remember them once they’re dead. Allen does, and that entertainment tradition is passed down through him and others that have nostalgia for what used to be.

4/5

Away We Go (2009)

This was an especially appropriate movie for us to watch as we find ourselves in a similar position to the protagonists: starting a family and trying to decide where to live.  Our puzzle, though, is not as large as theirs.  We’re staying near DC for the next couple years.  Burt (John Krasinski) and Verona (Maya Rudolph) are travelling across the country trying  to decide where to plant roots.  They visit the families of her old boss in Phoenix, his “cousin” in Madison, their college friends in Montreal, and his brother in Miami.  Each location gives them an example of what their relationship and family could be.

Going on this journey leads them to the obvious decision: to live their own lives.  You get the sense that Burt and Verona have spent their time trying to mimic the success or happiness of others and not seeking it for themselves on their own terms.  Early in their quest Verona asks Burt if they’ve squandered their time as independent adults, and I wanted to respond, “Yes!”  When their college friend Tom (Chris Messina) explains what it takes to raise a family and maintain a marriage, the answer is obvious, but to Burt and Verona it is a revelation–that’s when you realize how lost these two are.

You cannot help but be sympathetic to their plight, yet that is mostly due to the script and direction.  The soundtrack nicely accentuates the flow and the cinematography keeps your eyes on the screen.  It’s a well-meaning film and it makes you feel warm and fuzzy.

3/5

The Squid and the Whale (2005)

Noah Baumbach has been around the block, having written and co-written several films.  He learned something from his buddy Wes Anderson in creating a world for his directorial debut to inhabit.  Unlike Anderson’s slightly skewed (in a good way) realities, though, the world of  The Squid and the Whale is imbued with realism, transporting us back to the Brooklyn of 1986.  It even feels like it was made in the late 1980s.  The picture has some rough edges and the production design provides a lot of authenticity.  I especially enjoyed the use of the Risky Business soundtrack.

The film is an unflinching picture of divorce, especially how the separation affects the two sons (Jesse Eisenberg and Owen Kline), one on the verge of adolescence, the other on the cusp of manhood.  Neither parent is particularly sympathetic.  Jeff Daniels plays the father, Bernard, a conceited literature professor who is critical of everyone, including his family.  Laura Linney plays the slightly more sympathetic mother, Joan, whose budding writing career brings out her husband’s jealousy.  The two share little screen time, but the tension is palpable when they do.

3/5