The Whale - Movie Review

Critics Score - 9 of 10

General Audience Score - 8 of 10

The topics of diet, weight loss, weight gain and body image are among some of the most interesting yet delicate topics that are prevalent in society today. While there are those that say that physical beauty can be found in anyone, persons of all shapes and sizes, society and especially the food industry is hell bent on assisting anyone with an appetite, (raises hand), to consume massive amounts of unnecessary, unhealthy and even addictive foods and drinks of all kinds. The latest film from Darren Aronofsky is The Whale, a curiously double entendre title about an extremely obese man who is grappling with several different issues while his diet and health problems have him staring death in the face. Brendan Fraser is fantastic and does some truly impressive and career defining work as Charlie, the film’s central character and the man we can’t seem to take our eyes off of whenever he’s on screen. I found almost everything Fraser was doing and his interactions with the film’s characters to be riveting, I sat forward in my seat almost immediately while watching. This film had me completely engrossed from virtually the opening sequence. General audiences, critics and cinephiles alike may find that The Whale, although it’s not a perfect movie, is no small fish of a film in a great many ways.

SYNOPSIS - Our journey into the depths of the dark side of human nature begins with a bus stopping to drop someone off in a location that is clearly not a regular stop. The individual is inexplicably left in the middle of two barren fields with some woods up the road, we cannot make out who the individual is as they begin walking because the camera shot is much too far away to discern any features or even gender. The scene cuts and we’re left to observe something we’ve become all too familiar with because of Covid, a zoom call split screen with fifteen different video feeds appearing, the outstanding feature being the center feed that says “Instructor” being blacked out. The call is a college class, the rest of the cameras are students and the subject they’re being instructed on is writing effectively and persuasively. As the camera pans in on the middle screen that remains black, slowly the entire frame becomes filled with the ominous blackness and we can only guess as to what hides behind the camera of the end of the missing camera feed.

We’re not kept in suspense for long, after the title screen disappears, we get our first view of Charlie (Brendan Fraser) from behind, he’s probably in his mid fifties, slightly balding, he’s sitting on his couch. As the camera slowly begins to pan around, we hear him moan but also begin to see he’s watching gay porn on his laptop. As the camera continues to pan, more and more of the mass of this approximately six hundred pound man comes into view, but when the camera gets in front of him, he suddenly pulls his hand from his pants and grabs at his left arm in pain. He grabs for his phone but it falls to the floor and instead he grabs an essay on Moby Dick and begins to read it while grimacing in pain and wheezing. After a sudden knock on the door, Charlie barks to the individual to get the key and open it, in enters a young man in jacket and tie named Thomas (Ty Simpkins), a door to door preacher for the New Life church. Charlie insists the confused Thomas read him the essay to which he reluctantly succumbs and while Charlie keeps clutching his chest and wincing from the pain, eventually after a minute the episode passes and later his nurse sister-in-law Liz (Hong Chau) shows up to assist. Later on in the story Charlie’s daughter Ellie (Sadie Sink) also shows up after being estranged from her father for nine years and unfortunately for her, it’s at exactly the wrong time when the screenwriting begins to show signs of weakness. But the film leans heavy on its main performance and Fraser effectively delivers for both his career and the film, and with a great director at the helm and engaging story to run on, The Whale is able to sustain a really good pace and hold viewers interest through the almost two hour runtime.

Although the film as a whole works very well on a technical level, it is relatively simple, the Covid era production translates into the film being shot almost entirely inside an apartment. But a few issues with the writing and acting held the film back from me really loving it completely. For starters the screenplay was pretty solid, I loved the different characters that come in an out that engaged with Charlie’s character on an emotional, familial, and spiritual level. However I struggled with some of the dialogue as the film moved into the second act, especially from Sadie Sink’s character. While she’s a decent enough actress in her own right, she does have that pissed-off teenager shtick on lockdown, but the performance is a little one note and the screenwriter didn’t do her any favors. Otherwise, Brendan Fraser is terrific, he embodies the Charlie character and is truly deserving if he takes the performance all the way, not only to an Oscar nomination but also to standing on the stage with the statue in hand. Hong Chau was also a standout as well, she did some impressive work across from Fraser and I also thought Ty Simpkins was perfectly serviceable. Otherwise the production design is simple yet effective, much like the slightly ethereal original score. The cinematography is likewise limited by the restrictions of the subdued filmmaking, but utilizes some curious angles and camera movement techniques on occasion. But the main reason to see this film is for the impressive show from Fraser, forgive my pun, but he’s one big reason.

SUMMARY - This film didn’t hit me terribly hard on an emotional level, but many aspects of Charlie’s character, his struggle with weight, his self-control and tendency to make poor decisions for himself, were all too familiar, not just for myself but also for humanity. Despite the slight emotional distance I kept from it, I was endlessly fascinated by this film, you might just say The Whale swallowed me whole.