The Whale (2022)

Title: The Whale

Year: 2022

Genre: Drama |  

Runtime: 117 min

Director: Darren Aronosfsky

Starring: Brendan Fraser, Sadie Sink, Ty Simpkins

7.8/10

Idaho, 2016. Scarred by the profound wounds of grief and guilt, couchbound Charlie, an online writing instructor living with chronic obesity, now has a crystal-clear view of his secret intentions. And confined to his claustrophobic and musty apartment, the self-destructive shut-in has all the time in the world to contemplate the damaging faults of the past, fatherhood, and reconciliation. Because, more than anything, flawed Charlie longs for communication and reconnection. After all, he hasn’t spoken to his estranged, angry teenage daughter Ellie in years. But everyone knows whales don’t live in the shallows. Can love and forgiveness wipe away the tears and the painful mistakes of a lifetime?

THE ESSENCE OF HONESTY

The Oscar-winning film The Whale portray Brendan Fraser as a obese dying man with a heart condition failure. Charlie works as an online teacher with a class and has the camera shut off. The official synopsis follows a man who wants to reconnect with his daughter. He has his nurse Liz, who helps daily with chores. A overprotecting nurse who thinks everyone wants little fat Charlie dead.

The acting is uneven, some hilarious and some other just kind of wad and emotional. The whole film reminds of a playing with characters show up little random now and then. Brendan Fraser plays a tricky part here, an emotional obese man. He is charming despite being in a wheelchair but Brendan nails it with his humor. Sadie Sinks takes on the passive-aggressive daughter Ellie, who is pissed off for daddy shacking up with another dude and left when she was eight. Thomas, the religious guy, comes back like every day who just wants to save Charlie. He becomes friends with Ellie. Then it turns out he is not on a mission. Let’s not forget Dan from Gambino, delivering pizza to Charlie, asking him if he is alright. The writing is surprisingly fresh, based on the play of the same name. The whole film is like a play, considering the whole story takes place in the same house. There’s a lot of comedy as well in this. The satire works well with the atmosphere.

The tension builds up to the moment when everyone sort of leaves him, blaming Charlie for his upbringing. The problem is that the characters are talking about a past we didn’t experience. The whole film is built almost entirely on exposition. At one point, the film’s drama reached a melodramatic tone. The editing is a little jumpy, making it hard on focus. The cinematography is decent alas the gloomy color correction makes the overall story adequate. he directing is also uneven. Hard to tell if its the acting, the writing or the directing that makes this an odd little drama-comedy.