Daniel Baldwin Books

An Ode to Roger Fenton's Valley of the Shadow of Death by Ayul M Zamir

The photograph: pale, grainy, and fading
And on the ground, you see them, where they solemnly lie,
like boulders of an ancient river bed
that has since long dried.
Strewn across the valley floor:
innumerable spheres--dark and silent--
spent up cannon balls.

On this desolate land, once, there was a great war, and
many battles, brave men had marched here to fight.
And now across that prized land,
that men had, then, fought so hard to conquer,
now, only rocks and abandoned metal lie.
And not a single soul is in sight

All of the same shape and size, these
round, metallic, man-made spheres.
Can almost feel the texture of those in a sharp focus,
so many lie scattered far and near.
Wonder: what color impressive uniforms,
did the soldiers on march to that war, then, wear.

Looking at this eternal photograph,
you can almost hear that distant rumble.
And feel the ground beneath your feet shake
under the recoil of giant cannons when they thunder.
When volley after volley of heavy metal
was sent soaring high into the air,
both sides knew another battle had begun--
in one more war that was just, honorable, and fair.

And all that metal,
once laboriously molten and carefully cast,
hurled into the air
with each soul shaking blast.
Dispatched, flying across
to land on the enemy--
to hit and hurt him
before he is near enough to be even seen.

That shocking power unleashed on the enemy
That flying metal, now, on its downward journey
Lethal arches drawn by metal balls--
as they, now, race down to find bodies
in that final,
awesome, terrorizing, whistling freefall.

You could trace back their long paths
to earlier fought wars,
and well thought out, rehearsed plans.
Emotions ran high:
military honor, national pride, old resentments,
and long held anger
--thoughtfully, however, on the map, and
carefully--precise lines were drawn.

"We feel just and right about it.
"Conquest is ours in the end.
"That is our Nation's destiny.
"Ours is that God granted fate."
And with that righteous inner strength,
new perfect plans were made.

And a minute ago, in final brave acts,
in the midst of rousing cheers,
they fired the guns
--could feel the ground shake
--they swaggered lightly:
the shocked and awed enemy
was about to meet his fate.

Hot metal balls are landing:
see that mud erupting, and sand flying;
and desperately in all directions--
our wretched enemy is running blind.

"Get ready to charge the stunned-softened enemy, now, boys;
use whatever: knives, bayonets, swords, sticks, hands, or dogs;
glorious victory is ours--
and on our side is the God."

"Of course, few of our brave men too
--honorable mothers--
are left with severed limbs and torn flesh.
And, yes, irreparable damage to hands and feet.
But hear the Heaven greeting those
who fell in the last final battle;
for them, now, let us cheer and ring in the victory."

"And thanks of a grateful country
to those who, now, in the mother Earth's womb
lie for eternity.
At peace--and like in their mothers' laps
lie breast fed, pink, sleeping babies.

Roger Fenton's hundred and fifty years old photograph:
from 1855, of the Crimean war.
An eternal testimony,
a little pale and grainy,
silent, lifeless, spent up cannon balls
strewn across the land
as far as the eyes can see
in the "Valley of the Shadow of Death"
in the past of the future.

Though Roger Fenton may not be a name known to the general public, he certainly is a hero among those who have devoted their lives to the art of photography. Working in the mid-nineteenth century with a novel invention - the camera - Fenton was probably the first to see the possibilities of photography as art.

This magnificent volume shares 85 of the artist's finest photographs, including moody views of the buildings of London, Moscow, Kiev, landscapes of countrysides, delicately composed still lifes and even some of his war photographs, works which compare to Matthew Brady's Civil War photographs.

The accompanying essays and comments are not only highly informative, they also are written with a reader in mind! This is a beautiful and important book about an under appreciated artist about whom we all should know more. Highly recommended, and well worth the price. Grady Harp, August 05

Joyce Baldwin did an excellent job on historic research and culture, and provides excellent analysis of interpretation of the Book of Daniel and what problems arise. A must read for anyone interested in Bible History and/or Prophecy.

Helmed by "Platoon" director and Vietnam vet Stone, "Born" is a profoundly moving portrait of a macho athlete whose horrific battle experience causes him to reassess his politics and reorient his give-`em-hell attitude. Cruise, in an ambitious turn away from heartthrob roles, plays Kovic with precision and conviction, especially at his darkest moments, delivering the finest work of his career. Co-written by Stone and Kovic, "Born" reflects the pain and anger felt by an entire generation of returning US soldiers, and will leave a lasting impression.

How could it have happened? Thousands of innocent soldiers and civilians killed for nothing? The most powerful nation on earth, having free speech and a free press, duped into a totally unnecesary and even counterproductive war? A Congress fooled by a dissembling and deceitful administration, with few dissenters.

Well, it happened again in 2003, and watching this movie, one of my favorites, is even more heartbreaking now than it was when I first saw it years ago. It's a period piece starting in the '50s, beautifully filmed, wonderfully acted, and perfectly capturing the spirit of three decades that I know well from personal experience. It's the story of Ron Kovic, who volunteered for duty in Vietnam, was severely wounded, and returned to find that not only had the war been unnecessary, but he and his fellow veterans were not all that welcome, especially when they started exercising their rights to protest the continuation of the war.

This is Stone's best movie by far. The joys of family life, the horrors of war, the pain of catastrophic injury, the trauma of alienation, the exhilaration of redemption... all are depicted movingly and accurately. In this movie, Stone is uncharacteristically as understated as John Williams' wonderful score. There are scenes, such as when Cruise's character, based on a real story, returns to his old neighborhood on Long Island to find his parents,family, and neighbors uneasily prepared for him, that always bring tears to my eyes. But that is just one of many such scenes.

Stone also is dead-on in his depiction of the attitude of the American public toward returning Vietnam veterans and the veterans' despair and bitterness. Alas, I fear that we have not seen yet the development of those same feelings as we have yet to see very many returning Iraq War veterans in this war, which never made any sense, but we will.

It's amazing to watch this movie again now and to see all the parallels with Vietnam, beginning with the killing of innocent civilians, confusion in the fighting, deaths of minority and working class kids, etc.

Like I said, it is heartbreaking to see this happen again, but this movie ought to be re-released or be shown in schools. Of course, being realistic, it has so much profanity and explicit references to sex that it will never be seen by those who ought to see it--impressionable kids who are brainwashed by government propaganda.

A side note: George W. Bush was probably at the 1972 GOP Convention that is depicted in the last part of this movie, so he was probably there when Ron Kovic and other Vietnam Veterans against the War were spit upon and gassed by police. Why John Kerry and his campaign did not bother to mention this--and a number of other things having to do with unnecessary wars--in the 2004 campaign is beyond me.

This is a movie to watch with your teenage son or daughter and to discuss afterward.

To be in a hot sun in a thick heavy uniform is very hard especially for those who never been in hot countries.You'd get easily confused and combined stupidities.
This movie features an ambitious young man dreams to be a hero of his land fighting enemies in other people's land.Ron Kovic has been brought up in a good family,but ends up for the rest of his life on a wheelchair.This... must be hell.
If you're born without legs,you'd never feel this kind of suffering.if you don't have love but have your legs,it would be different.Think what war can do to your children.
Kovic is interprated by Tom Cruise, an actor we have never seen so sad and depressed like in this movie.Oliver Stone is to me the 'Hero' of Vietnamese war's movies.Never forget that handsome Yankee Doodle Boy as young Kovic too.

Born on the Fourth of July follows the journey of Ron Kovic from his innocent childhood in the 1950's through his experience in the Vietnam war and its aftermath. His painful journey reflects the tumultuous journey that America took during the Vietnam War years.

Tom Cruise, delivering an intense performance as Kovic, and director Oliver Stone, a Vietnam Veteran, allows us to share in the raw emotions of the character. John Williams provides a brilliant score to add to the emotional punch.

This film was made when Stone could command a big budget post-Platoon and before he succumbed to the excesses of his later films - Born on the Fourth of July stands as his finest film.

Everything that people love and detest about Oliver Stone's films is in full flower here--ambitious theme, strengthen visual style, undisguised political biases...

The film is also an important turning point in Tom Cruise's career, completing his transformation from rising star to serious actor... He received his first Academy Award nomination for his role as antiwar activist and Vietnam veteran... Though Ron Kovic's story is presented as a distillation of the political and a violent social commotion that America went through from the mid-sixties to the mid-seventies... At heart, it's propaganda...

Stone begins the story as a twisted cinematic version with boys playing war in suburban woods... It's Massapequa, Long Island, 1956...

Ron Kovic grows up as a typical American white kid who believes in God, country, sports, and sex... His father's (Raymond J. Barry) leaving his forceful mother (Caroline Kava) as the dominant personality in the home... To Ron, she's a repressive slave driver who sets a standard he can never measure up to... That, in part, is why he enlists in the Marines, straight out of high school... Cut to the Cua Viet River, October 1967, where Sgt. Kovic is in his second tour...

The short vision of Vietnam that Stone presents here is even more surreal and horrifying than the violence in "Platoon." An attack on a village is a disaster, and the Marines' retreat from it is even worse for Kovic... That nightmare is settled when Kovic is seriously wounded, sent to a MASH unit, and then to a Bronx Veteran's Administration hospital...

Paralyzed from the waist down, Kovic sank into a deep depression... From that moment, the next hour or so is a steep downward spiral of self-pity, drunkenness, anger, misery, and, most important, guilt over one incident for which he cannot forgive himself... It's honest, unflattering, and ugly...

Cruise's performance is one of his best, capturing both the cocky, insecure young man and the haunted veteran...The motion picture is never boring and, until the last reel, the action moves forcefully...

If Stone had elected in the middle section to spend less time rolling about with pleasure in Mexican fleshpots and to pay more attention to Kovic's full development, he might have created the antiwar epic he was aiming for, revealing the physical and psychological costs of one of the most tragic events in history...

Helmed by "Platoon" director and Vietnam vet Stone, "Born" is a profoundly moving portrait of a macho athlete whose horrific battle experience causes him to reassess his politics and reorient his give-`em-hell attitude. Cruise, in an ambitious turn away from heartthrob roles, plays Kovic with precision and conviction, especially at his darkest moments, delivering the finest work of his career. Co-written by Stone and Kovic, "Born" reflects the pain and anger felt by an entire generation of returning US soldiers, and will leave a lasting impression.

How could it have happened? Thousands of innocent soldiers and civilians killed for nothing? The most powerful nation on earth, having free speech and a free press, duped into a totally unnecesary and even counterproductive war? A Congress fooled by a dissembling and deceitful administration, with few dissenters.

Well, it happened again in 2003, and watching this movie, one of my favorites, is even more heartbreaking now than it was when I first saw it years ago. It's a period piece starting in the '50s, beautifully filmed, wonderfully acted, and perfectly capturing the spirit of three decades that I know well from personal experience. It's the story of Ron Kovic, who volunteered for duty in Vietnam, was severely wounded, and returned to find that not only had the war been unnecessary, but he and his fellow veterans were not all that welcome, especially when they started exercising their rights to protest the continuation of the war.

This is Stone's best movie by far. The joys of family life, the horrors of war, the pain of catastrophic injury, the trauma of alienation, the exhilaration of redemption... all are depicted movingly and accurately. In this movie, Stone is uncharacteristically as understated as John Williams' wonderful score. There are scenes, such as when Cruise's character, based on a real story, returns to his old neighborhood on Long Island to find his parents,family, and neighbors uneasily prepared for him, that always bring tears to my eyes. But that is just one of many such scenes.

Stone also is dead-on in his depiction of the attitude of the American public toward returning Vietnam veterans and the veterans' despair and bitterness. Alas, I fear that we have not seen yet the development of those same feelings as we have yet to see very many returning Iraq War veterans in this war, which never made any sense, but we will.

It's amazing to watch this movie again now and to see all the parallels with Vietnam, beginning with the killing of innocent civilians, confusion in the fighting, deaths of minority and working class kids, etc.

Like I said, it is heartbreaking to see this happen again, but this movie ought to be re-released or be shown in schools. Of course, being realistic, it has so much profanity and explicit references to sex that it will never be seen by those who ought to see it--impressionable kids who are brainwashed by government propaganda.

A side note: George W. Bush was probably at the 1972 GOP Convention that is depicted in the last part of this movie, so he was probably there when Ron Kovic and other Vietnam Veterans against the War were spit upon and gassed by police. Why John Kerry and his campaign did not bother to mention this--and a number of other things having to do with unnecessary wars--in the 2004 campaign is beyond me.

This is a movie to watch with your teenage son or daughter and to discuss afterward.

To be in a hot sun in a thick heavy uniform is very hard especially for those who never been in hot countries.You'd get easily confused and combined stupidities.
This movie features an ambitious young man dreams to be a hero of his land fighting enemies in other people's land.Ron Kovic has been brought up in a good family,but ends up for the rest of his life on a wheelchair.This... must be hell.
If you're born without legs,you'd never feel this kind of suffering.if you don't have love but have your legs,it would be different.Think what war can do to your children.
Kovic is interprated by Tom Cruise, an actor we have never seen so sad and depressed like in this movie.Oliver Stone is to me the 'Hero' of Vietnamese war's movies.Never forget that handsome Yankee Doodle Boy as young Kovic too.

Born on the Fourth of July follows the journey of Ron Kovic from his innocent childhood in the 1950's through his experience in the Vietnam war and its aftermath. His painful journey reflects the tumultuous journey that America took during the Vietnam War years.

Tom Cruise, delivering an intense performance as Kovic, and director Oliver Stone, a Vietnam Veteran, allows us to share in the raw emotions of the character. John Williams provides a brilliant score to add to the emotional punch.

This film was made when Stone could command a big budget post-Platoon and before he succumbed to the excesses of his later films - Born on the Fourth of July stands as his finest film.

Everything that people love and detest about Oliver Stone's films is in full flower here--ambitious theme, strengthen visual style, undisguised political biases...

The film is also an important turning point in Tom Cruise's career, completing his transformation from rising star to serious actor... He received his first Academy Award nomination for his role as antiwar activist and Vietnam veteran... Though Ron Kovic's story is presented as a distillation of the political and a violent social commotion that America went through from the mid-sixties to the mid-seventies... At heart, it's propaganda...

Stone begins the story as a twisted cinematic version with boys playing war in suburban woods... It's Massapequa, Long Island, 1956...

Ron Kovic grows up as a typical American white kid who believes in God, country, sports, and sex... His father's (Raymond J. Barry) leaving his forceful mother (Caroline Kava) as the dominant personality in the home... To Ron, she's a repressive slave driver who sets a standard he can never measure up to... That, in part, is why he enlists in the Marines, straight out of high school... Cut to the Cua Viet River, October 1967, where Sgt. Kovic is in his second tour...

The short vision of Vietnam that Stone presents here is even more surreal and horrifying than the violence in "Platoon." An attack on a village is a disaster, and the Marines' retreat from it is even worse for Kovic... That nightmare is settled when Kovic is seriously wounded, sent to a MASH unit, and then to a Bronx Veteran's Administration hospital...

Paralyzed from the waist down, Kovic sank into a deep depression... From that moment, the next hour or so is a steep downward spiral of self-pity, drunkenness, anger, misery, and, most important, guilt over one incident for which he cannot forgive himself... It's honest, unflattering, and ugly...

Cruise's performance is one of his best, capturing both the cocky, insecure young man and the haunted veteran...The motion picture is never boring and, until the last reel, the action moves forcefully...

If Stone had elected in the middle section to spend less time rolling about with pleasure in Mexican fleshpots and to pay more attention to Kovic's full development, he might have created the antiwar epic he was aiming for, revealing the physical and psychological costs of one of the most tragic events in history...

I like Joyce Baldwin. I own about a dozen commentaries on Daniel, and while preparing to write my own book on Daniel, I found myself consulting Baldwin more often than any other work. She usually represents the conversative interpretation but not exclusively so. She'll discuss alternative views so you can understand and decide for yourself. Note: this is a scholarly work. It's for the thinker who wants information and background, not those looking for a homiletical commentary with preachable outlines or engaging illustration. I recommend this book.

I purchased this commentary as a young lawyer teaching Sunday School in 1980, and it has helped me communicate the stories in this book to many. I found the book useful as a layman and after attending seminary found it remained helpful at the scholarly level as well. Baldwin breathes life into the fabulous stories with which Daniel begins - stories usually taught to children and rarely preached or made the subject of adult Bible study, and the book is most helpful in illuminating these stories - the four Hebrew youths in captivity, the fiery furnace, the lions' den, and the writing on the wall. The more eschatological material that forms the latter part of the prophet's book is well treated, and the author avoids falling into the abyss of too closely pressing the details. It is a sound book in a sound series (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries), and should help anyone teach, preach or simply enjoy the faith stories of Daniel and his friends.

Baldwin holds to traditional veiw of authorship and give good support for it. Good defense of an exilic date.
Baldwin said, "The predominate message is that God's people will experience suffering and be threatened with extinction, but that will not be the end of the story because their God is living and all-powerful God who will get glory by vindicating His name and who will save them" (66). She points out that God is sovereignly ruling over the affairs of men to bring about His purpose, and will one day establish His perfect kingdom.
Baldwin has called the seventy sevens the most difficult text of the book. She takes a symbolic interpretation. According to her, the seventy sevens are symbolic periods of time starting at Cyrus's decree and ending with Christ's second advent. There is no gap in the seventy sevens. The sixty-ninth seven corresponds to Christ's first coming. This forces the last seven to be very disproportional
The strength of Baldwin's commentary is the introduction. It makes up roughly one third of the commentary. She gives strong support for the historicity of Daniel and the traditional view of authorship and date. Her additional note on the "Son of Man" is another strong point of her book. If someone is looking for a good introduction and a brief commentary, Baldwin is a good fit. The brevity, however, is the weakness of the commentary. The author overlooks some intriguing parts of the text. For example, there is no discussion about the identity of the "prince of the Persian kingdom" in chapter 10 verse 13. One of the strangest verses in the Bible only gets one little paragraph with no detail. She has little to say about the stone cutout without human hands. Such interesting details deserve more attention than is given in this commentary. As a whole this is a good conservative commentary, although, it is a little dated. Not recommend for an in-depth study of Daniel. I strongly recommend Stephen R. Miller's commentary on Daniel in the New American Commentary series.

They that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. Daniel 12:3

I used several commentaries for teaching a very small group bible study on Daniel and preferred Baldwin's book over them all. The NIV commentary was too simplistic for my taste, and is geared mainly for direct use in small group studies. For Old Testament studies, the NIV version of the Bible has numerous errors on critical verses, some on messianic prophecies, as in Isaiah 7:14. I have numerous jewish commentaries which I have acquired from Brookline, MA, and the English translation is closest to the New American Standard Bible which is used, thankfully, at most seminaries. For my study of Daniel, I used the jewish commentary from Soncino press.

Daniel is probably the easiest book of the Bible to read, (my favorite), yet, carefully read, has some of the most difficult passages to interpret in all of scripture. Baldwin deals with these in sections entitled additional notes and presents all of the differing interpretations regarding them which I believe is wise when dealing with prophecies that have yet to be fulfilled.

I love the Tyndale series too, but, if anything, I encourage you to read the book of Daniel itself.

As a postscript, I must add that William Tyndale gave us the English Bible. He was martyred in Antwerp, Belgium in 1536. He spoke much about the "powers that be" which is actually taken from Romans 13:1.

I was expecting great things from The Squid and the Whale. After all, critical buzz about the picture when it was released was good, and the film was nominated for some Golden Globes and and Oscar. Well, either my hopes were too high, or the film just wasn't as good as everyone made it out to be.

The film relates the disintegration of the Berkman family, who are living in 1980s Brooklyn. Father Bernard (Jeff Daniels) is a pompous, know-it-all novelist who has begun the downward arc of his career path and is now teaching literature at a college. His wife, Joan (Laura Linney), is the long-suffering mother of their two children. (But not TOO long-suffering. She's had several affairs.) When Bernard and Joan decide to call it quits, they bring children Walt (16) and Frank (12) in for a family conference to break the news. The children naturally find themselves taking sides. The duration of the movie shows how the children and their parents cope with the divorce and their changing lives.

What IS good about the film - all the performances are great, with Daniels in particular fully inhabiting Bernard's academic elitism and utter vanity. Bernard is just always so sure he's right about everything. Plus, he has an angry competitive streak and doesn't seem to want anyone else to win anything except him. (No wonder Joan was boinking other guys, eh?) In addition, the characters are rendered fully on the page, although continuous reinforcements of who they are (rather than who they will become?) become tiresome as the script grinds along.

What I didn't like - The plot isn't particularly compelling. We watch as the family breaks apart and how each member of the family deals with this event in different ways. But because I didn't like most of the characters, I found it difficult to care too much one way or the other. Also, I thought the movie was overly preoccupied with sex. Each character has their own manifestation of a sexual storyline, and that felt very contrived to me. In addition, there was alot of profanity, particularly from the youngest character, that I didn't think was necessary or added much to the story. But mostly, I didn't feel that enough HAPPENED. I didn't feel that the characters made any meaningful inner journeys or underwent any meaningful changes. I just felt like there was alot of extraneous junk in the script that could have been jettisoned in exchange for more of an actual plotline.

So, regardless of the film's critical acclaim, I can't recommend it. If I could get those two hours of my life back, I think I would.

For some reason, the mainstream avant garde seems to regard the dramedy as the quintessential genre. You know what I mean: the "almost comedy," the "quirky drama," the "unbelieveable reality." Noah Baumbach's The Squid and the Whale is a good example of this genre. It's kind of like that other nearly mainstream movie of his, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou - Criterion Collection (2-Disc Special Edition). This one is more realistic than The Life Aquatic, but it has that same kind of quirkiness. The characters are so entrenched in their stereotypes that they're almost humorous.

Jeff Daniels (who is amazing in this film) is the stereotypical English professor who pontificates on every subject as if he has the be-all-end-all opinion on everything. Meanwhile, his wife, the nice one, is just as messed up. And the kids, well, they are the epitome of dysfunction. Their role models--their parents--and incapable or relating on any level other than stupidity, and so they can't make competent decisions. The father gives the older one advice such as "Sleep with her and see what it's like. Then move on." (I'm paraphrasing here.) And the younger one can't decide who he is, except that he knows he's only 12 going on 21.

Here, the drama is more important than the comedy, and I don't think I laughed at all, but it's still that kind of movie. For me, I found it more disturbing than funny. In fact, everyone in this movie creeped me out, from the kids to the parents, and I guess that's the point.

Simply wonderful. For those who have grown up with exceptionally educated parents, be prepared for moments of cringing and wincing when viewing this movie. Most of all, The Squid and the Whale is for those who step back and are able to appreciate and have fun with the idiosyncrasies and annoyances of our own families. Baumbach's insight into the dysfunctional family is uncanny and, in turn, tells us how dysfunctional all of our families are. On the technical level, along with Wes Anderson and a few others, Noah Baumbach is at the forefront of what I believe to be a New American and Independent Cinema, where the actors, their words, expressions and actions are as powerful and real as the viewer meeting these people on the streets. Baumbach is a brilliant story teller of everyday life. Like Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation, this movie does not follow the prescription of most movies as it is rarely eventful. For this it is real, and something we can all relate to. Yes, I agree with other reviewers, Jeff Daniels performance is terrific. Like Murray in Lost in Translation, his acting career seems to only have begun. I have also yet to see a movie in which Laura Linney was not spot on. As for the boys, I think we have two engaging independent movie stars for us to follow for the years to come. On a note about the title of the film, for New Yorkers, how great was it to mention the Museum of Natural History and in particular, the squid and the whale which used to be in that under lighted corner of the marine exhibit. Scared many of us as children, didn't it? Lastly, we have Brooklyn. Baumbach's hometown is depicted as it should be, a beautiful and equal borough to Manhattan in most respects.

This film is very Wes Anderson, it's offbeat and ends very oddly, but true to the rest of the movie I suppose. It really hits home with the divorce and the fight over the kids. The youngest son is very good and it's heartbreaking to watch him implode while is narcassistic parents fight over which is the worst and who is to blame for their failed marriage. Daniels, channeling Flap from Terms of Endearment is quite good, but he's done this material before. Linney is first rate as always, she is as usual not very likeable as a character, but real none the less. I found Billy Baldwin really bizarre, but this being Wes Anderson, he is no surprise as a character. I was not sure what to make of the ending, it was sort of like...uh..ok..I guess he had come full circle with his mother, but where did that leave Daniels character? Granted he was hardly perfect, he was a total narcassist and miserly, but Linney was hardly perfect, she cheated on him with every single male in Brooklyn and was happy to tell everybody about it, especially her kids. Maybe it's best the movie ended as it did, maybe we didnt want to see what becomes of this fractured family. Not sure id recommend it, but if you like Wes Anderson, you'll probably be just fine with this film.

at first i didnt think i was gonna like the movie.. in fact i tried not to like it by critisizing it at every point.. and then.. i found myself sucked into the story. it comes off as some artsy pompous thing, but thats because the tone of the film reflects its point.. the characters are lost inside themselves and put on these pompous phony facades. the movie is about self absorbed, arrogant, people confronted with the fact that they arent "all that and a genius to boot". these parents decide after 17 years to seperate. their dysfunction, as people, becomes overwhelmingly apparent to themselves.. but they dont know how to approach this new revelation that they are all having (kids too).. and the film maker keeps this "revelation" just as unspoken as these beautifully performed characters do. the director makes you feel the plot instead of serving it up in some "pipe laying" scene where all is explained for the "dumb" viewer (i hate that). this film is so well made that you "get it" without even knowing how you "got it". i hate to even write this because it may jinx the experience for you. its a really different film. it does have some very in your face content.. but its as far from gratuitous as you can get.. its presentation is important in order to get across the gravity of the characters situation. if you like character studies, and human dramas that deal with relationships while slipping in some truly funny dark humor just under the radar consistantly and evenly throughout the movie, then your gonna wanna chek this out. it has some cool cinematography and editing too.. like wes anderson, but different.