The Whale

Much like Darren Aronofsky's previous directorial effort, mother!, it would appear The Whale is also proving divisive, though maybe not to the same degree. And, in a strange twist of events (at least as of now), it would appear audiences like it more than critics; the polar opposite with the aforementioned extended metaphor about mother earth. 

Much like that film, The Whale is one I can envision myself thinking about for a very long time, even if I did find it to have some issues. It's a distressing, yet poignant look at a lot of sad characters in a very sad situation. The question: "How did we get here?" bounced around in my head throughout the entire thing, one I never knew would be fully answered but still relevant given the size of our protagonist. 

There's been much made about two things with this movie: Brendan Fraser's remarkable comeback and controversy surrounding the use of a "fat suit". The latter is a non-issue in my mind and I'm not even sure why there's controversy with it. If it's something that bothers you there's the simple option: don't see the film! The formerly stated "thing" is worth celebrating big time though: Brendan Fraser has come out the other side of his hellish post-Mummy spiral and truly does give a performance that warrants seeing the film singlehandedly. He's been making this comeback for a while now on various TV shows (including Doom Patrol of which I desperately need to catch up in seasons), but to see him land a huge role like this, crush it, get 14 minute standing ovations, and awards chatter is about as hopeful of a success story as you can get from Hollywood given all he has been through.

Because of his performance and the subject matter, The Whale is a brutally difficult viewing experience. Multiple times his character asks others if they find him disgusting and there are scenes where your answer will likely be obvious. As a 600-pound recluse, there are intense moments of him nearly dying of...um...self-gratification, choking on a meatball sub, and revenge/stress eating himself nearly to death. Throughout its entirety, his breath is a wheeze and coughing is frequent. It wears on you as an viewer, feeling both sad for the thoughtful man that Charlie is, but also not being able to grasp how he let his health decline this far. There's parts of this that feel exploitive - which is reasoning for many people's distaste of the movie overall - and while I didn't feel like it went that far, it does surely guarantee this is not a movie that people will likely return to. 

With our characters, Charlie's daughter - played by Sadie Sink - seems..."off" is the best way I can put it. At one point, her mother calls her evil, which is honestly true, but it feels so aggressive in displaying this that it felt cartoonish at times. That's no fault of Sink, but rather the screenplay that could have had the daughter be a s**ty person with more subtlety. I'll reiterate this is a sad film about a lot of sad people. Hong Chau's Liz is my other MVP aside from Fraser, a friend who takes care of him and who's slowly devastated by watching him basically kill himself and refuse medical care. Fraser as Charlie is a powerful revelation: a good man trapped in a body that he has poisoned after becoming depressed by the death of his partner years before. Fraser brings a real empathy to the character that makes us support Charlie, even in his most frustrating moments of succumbing to his addiction. This is certainly one of the year's best displays of acting and it will likely be at the forefront of what sticks with you after the credits roll.

The Whale is not a movie I recommend easily. It's a bit of a haunting viewing experience with some imagery I'm not sure will leave my mind for a while, so proceed with caution. That said, it's a fascinating character study of a deeply troubled man who still sees the good in people, despite his own predicament and, if nothing else, a wonderful success story for Brendan Fraser. 

CONS  

• Filmmaking at hand (e.g. editing, cinematography, original score) is nothing special, which is a bit of a disappointment
• Ellie, Charlie's daughter, feels overdone and almost cartoonishly bad
• There's a fine line of being exploitive about this stuff...I think The Whale loses that balance at moments
• Story feels limited by the day-to-day approach

PROS

• The most obvious: Fraser's performance is the anchor point of the film and worth seeing
• All other performances are nearly as impressive
• I thought I'd hate the single setting environment, but here it's effective by creating some claustrophobia
• Aside from Ellie, it's well written, if not a bit on the nose. Charlie in particular is a very complex character, worth studying as the center of this film
• Haunting to view, and will leave you thinking about it afterwards

Rath's Review Score | 7/10