Movie Review: The Whale

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B+

A difficult watch but a very rewarding one. 

This movie has a fairly simple but very beautiful basic storyline. A morbidly obese man has isolated himself from the rest of the world after the tragic death of his boyfriend. Believing he is about to die, he decides to try to reconnect with his 17-year-old daughter, who he hasn't seen since she was 8. Despite the simplicity of this basic storyline the way it is presented is anything but simplistic. This is a wonderful character study that takes a deep dive into just who this character is. It takes a look at how trapped and helpless he often feels even within his own house. The visual filmmaking and how often times our main character can take up the majority of the screen creates a truly claustrophobic and uneasy feeling that reflects both the character's mental and physical state. The character is also surprisingly complex and has many elements to his personality that seem like they should be contradictory but actually just make the character feel more real and relatable. Yet despite these complexities the character always comes off as very lovable, sympathetic and someone who you just want to hug. This is helped by Brendon Fraiser giving what is perhaps the performance of his career. Those who know him for The Mummy films, will be amazed at how incredible he can give such a dramatic and heartbreaking performance. He exudes equal amounts of charm and vulnerability in every scene. Often times this feeling of vulnerability can make the film very hard to watch because of the sheer amount of painful emotions it will cause you to feel. The main heart of this film is held in the scenes between him and his daughter. His daughter is not the most likable person and often is very cruel to everyone around her. Yet he views her as an incredible and beautiful person, even if that is something that even we as the audience can't see. These scenes are often heartbreakingly beautiful and moving. Again, these scenes can become truly hard to watch as we see the daughters' cruelty play out, but this only makes the emotional core of the movie even stronger. This all leads up to a truly beautiful ending that I won't dare spoil here. Yet while this is not a comedy, there are a few good little comedic moments that keep this movie from becoming, one long dirge. This film is also helped by wonderful direction by Darren Aronofsky. Though this is more down to Earth than many of his other films, he handles this more realistic story wonderfully and shows why he is such a great filmmaker. 

Unfortunately, this movie has many scenes involving a missionary, who sets out to save our main character. These scenes often feel like they should be in a completely different movie and that the film would be better if you cut many of these scenes out. These scenes often feel like they are simply there for Darren Aronofsky and writer Samuel D. Hunter (who also wrote the play this film was based on) to express their feelings on religion (which they don't seem to have much respect for). Unfortunately, these feelings are often conveyed through heavy handed dialogue that can feel more like something out of a book on philosophy than an actual conversation people might have. These conversations also add nothing to the storyline or the emotional core of the story. This is a huge fault for the movie, but when so much of the film is so beautiful, it is easy to forgive even this major fault.

While not a perfect film, this is a truly beautiful one.