- Writer/director Noah Baumbach was nominated for an Academy Award for his screenplay for this multi-award-winning film that captures the inner workings of a family in crisis in 1986 Brooklyn. Academic and author Bernard and his restless wife, Joan, an up-and-coming writer, have given up on their marriage. Their two sons, Walt, 16, and Frank 12, are left to grapple with their confusing and conflicted feelings. The experience is a tender, funny and ultimately moving coming-of-age for Walt, and a tortuously premature one for Frank. The emotional tensions and strains that emerge during this difficult period are given a remarkably subtle and nuanced portrayal as a family in transition learns to redefine itself.