The Whale 2022

The Whale is a movie that genuinely lives up to the hype, but the danger of raving too much about it is that it runs the risk of diluting the simplicity and ramping up expectations. It is a simple, clever, beautiful, heroic, melancholy, sad and joyous story that plays out like a long one act play. The direction is economical, restrained and unrushed, making Charlie’s whole world the film’s whole world. With the camera on Charlie (Brendon Fraser) for the majority of the time, it allows Fraser to languidly use his entire acting palate, not only supplying the big, dramatic moments but all of the smaller, sometimes intimate and sometimes seemingly inconsequential moments as well. It feels real, and as simple as that sentence sounds, it’s an almost impossible thing to deliver. Director Darren Aronofsky has provided a warm and subtle film that integrates isolation, sexuality, being different, remorse and redemption without waving them like a banner. There are clever reveals and while you may have an inkling where the show is going, I don’t think you will fully predict the emotional gut punch coming your way until it's upon you. With all the superhero films and rushed-to-Netflix movies these days, I don’t see much superb film making these days, or many that I think are worth 10 out of 10. This is.

I doubt I can add much more to what has already been said about 'The Whale', but in a word: Bravo!

Brendan Fraser truly is sensational in this role. I heard about all the acclaim and seen a few of the standing ovations he has received and all I can say is that it is unequivocally deserved. Truly outstanding from the first scene (yes, even with that... ha) to the very last. It's great to see the dude that I first saw as a kid in 'George of the Jungle' well and truly back in the game.

One thing about Fraser getting all the (undoubtedly merited) plaudits from this Darren Aronofsky flick is that I didn't know what to expect from the support cast, and man are there some absolutely stellar performances behind Fraser. Sadie Sink, Ty Simpkins and Samantha Morton are top notch, though Hong Chau is a cut above that trio - brilliant stuff from her!

There are some powerful scenes in there. I'm not one to cry with fictional works (my brain automatically knows it's 'fake', I can't help it) but man even I got major goosebumps and gut punches (pardon the pun?) from what's portrayed onscreen. Fraser, and Chau, are naturally the major reasons for that, but everyone - on and off the screen - deserves big props for this 2022 film.

The definition of a must-watch.

"Do you ever get the feeling that people are incapable of not caring?"

The Whale is a movie that evoked mixed reactions from people. Some saw it as beautiful and tragic, while others saw it as an offensive, cruel film. Even praising any merits of the movie can be controversial.

On the other hand, I liked the film and connected to it. Not an easy watch but with a subject matter like this would not be. With a film marker like Darren, he approaches his movie's themes with discomfort, almost like the message is punching you in the face. Not that it's beating you over the head with it, but how it is delivered feels like a rock-hard whiplash.

Although it can feel stagy as it takes place in one setting in an apartment, and yet, everything feels real and raw. There's so much hurt here that it bleeds off the screen. Every character is flawed and awful in their human way.

Sadie Sink was great as Ellie, Charlie’s daughter. However, I think her character was a bit one-note, as the writer only gave her one angry emotion throughout. Not Sadie’s fault, as she still managed to shine through.

Hong Chau, who has been on a winning streak recently, is fantastic in this movie. She plays Liz, Charlie’s best friend, and nurse, that comes in and out of the story. We are aware of how bad his health is through her, and despite her many pleads for him to go to the hospital due to dangerously high blood pressure of 238 over 134, they both know it would not make a difference because he doesn’t have long to live.

Samantha Morton only has one scene but makes every second memorable. She was superb.

The supporting cast was all solid. But we all know the star of the show.

Brendan Fraser delivers a devastating performance that is one for the ages. I knew beforehand he would be brilliant in the role just by the fact he's working with a solid director for actors and how in interviews, Brendan sounds/looks like he is about to cry. Fraser himself has had a rough couple of years which has become public knowledge, often leading to either sympathy or mockery. I can easily imagine that that experience helped fuel his performance during scenes that I could suspect would be difficult for any actor to perform. Just thinking about it can easily make me teary-eyed. He deserved that Oscar!

Fraser has accurately described Charlie as a superhero because if he had any powers, they would be strength and human compassion. He quite literally carries his weight, limiting his movement around the apartment. His weight also makes him an easy target for ridicule and judgmental stares. He has mental issues and an unhealthy opinion of himself. He eats when he feels down or out of comfort. But his strength is the determination to keep going, and he sees the good in people no matter what they think of him. He has a positive attitude to life. It may seem a weakness to weak-minded people, but it only makes him resilient.

Speaking of that, I don't understand why people call this movie fatphobic or misery porn. Aronofsky always approaches his themes and ideas but in a harsh way. This movie aims for people to be more respectful to others rather than dehumanize them.

During my screening, two idiots wouldn't shut up and made fun of Charlie when he wasn't doing anything. After the film was over, they made terrible Whale puns. The movie harshly shows people's attitude towards overweight people rather than "torturing" Charlie. The movie is not saying, "Eww, look at him", but rather Eww, look at those fatphobic people. Those two dipshits only proved the movie's point.

Overall rating: It was an exceptional movie experience for me. I watched it with my mum, and we hugged each other at the end. This has never happened to me before after the end of a movie. The Whale is the most heartfelt and (at times) funniest movie Darren Aronofsky has made.

One of the best "character study" movies I've seen for a long time. The audience are asked to observe these layered characters for all they are; it's then up to you if you can find empathy within yourself to relate to this smorgasbord of individuals. I think it's pretty telling when people come away from this movie saying they struggled or didn't like anything about it. You've got to see past the ugly, hateful and even evil top layers of these characters and relate to them on a level much deeper than most contemporary films ask of you. Let these characters be presented to you and then connect with them as best you can. You might be surprised at what you find, and what that says about yourself as an individual.

Anyone who can watch the scene towards the end between Fraser and Sink without getting a little choked up is cold, callous and needs to work on themselves lmao

Easy Oscar win for Brendan I think, he elevates Charlie from what could have been an easy performance to laugh at and makes him so personable and real. Great movie, might give it another run through to truly understand the Moby Dick imagery dotted throughout in the near future.

The film is pretty cerebral, much like the novel invoked throughout. I was prepared for that, but not to the level this steps up to. I suspect if I had been, I would've given it a 9 instead of an 8. The direct foreshadowing of the main character's death might be a little too on point, but the more subtle foreshadowing throughout provides a literary feel we rarely see in movies.

Honestly, watch when you're in the mood for a very deep movie on multiple levels. The weight and how people react to it is just the tip of the iceberg, no pun intended. The main story is just how hate, lack of understanding and empathy create issue upon issue in every aspect of our lives, especially from the pious religious lack of empathy. But it gets deeper into lack of understanding in perception. It also touches indirectly from multiple views from the different characters on the way we process grief, almost using eating as the metaphor for how some of us "eat" our grief and how that eventually can devour us.

In my opinion, the bad reviews and hate of this movie has gotten really stems from our discomfort with anything we as a society deem unacceptable, and obesity is definitely frowned upon with very little empathy or understanding. For the more intelligent viewer, the movie will get better as you ponder it after.

8, until you really let it settle. 9 overall after.

A very difficult film to watch, as it doesn't shy away from the harsh realities of Charlie's situation. I can see why Brendan Fraser won the Oscar for his performance. He has so many solo scenes where he conveys complex emotion with zero dialogue, providing a powerful glimpse into Charlie's internal anguish. While Fraser is the obvious standout, Sadie Sink certainly holds her own. I was also pleasantly surprised by the complexity of the story. The characters are rich and the writing is strong. In the end, the movie lands an effective emotional punch. Definitely had me on the verge of tears in the finale.

Certain scenes in the film felt very much like a stage play. While not a good thing or a bad thing necessarily, I would say there were a couple instances where the acting also veered more theatrical/melodramatic, which took me out of the story briefly.

As an aside, this is one of those interesting cases where, despite feeling like I knew the central premise in advance, I actually knew virtually nothing. I knew a single character trait. That's it. In that way, the movie acted as a powerful reminder that people are so much more than a single character trait.

Brendan Fraser's ability to deliver a flawless performance in "The Whale" despite heavy makeup and a prosthetic suit is truly impressive. His character Charlie, an obese man with a self-destructive eating disorder, comes across as completely genuine throughout. This is entirely due to Fraser. Hong Chau is also excellent as Charlie's nurse friend Liz. Both are the film's emotional core.

The rest of the cast, however, didn't click with me. The father-daughter relationship at the center of the plot never really struck a chord. Even though I really like Sadie Sink in "Stranger Things," her character here is too flat and one-dimensional. Furthermore, I found the door-to-door missionary Thomas, played by Ty Simpkins, even more annoying. Samantha Morton, on the other hand, is solid as Charlie's ex-wife, but doesn't get much to do either.

On a cinematic level, I commend the decision to go with the 4:3 aspect ratio. This ensures that Charlie regularly takes up the entire frame, which only makes Fraser's transformation more striking. Otherwise, though, the film doesn't have much to offer in this regard, as it is a chamber drama.

In terms of plot, "The Whale" is a pure misery-fest, which is never my favorite thing to see. The emotional speeches of Fraser's character are also often way too cheesy. They could certainly be included in a motivational calendar. At the same time, director Darren Aronofsky tends to repeatedly focus on Charlie's suffering. He groans, sweats, and agonizes—obviously, Aronofsky wanted to evoke shocked reactions. But that often just annoyed me. Also, his message about religion did not resonate with me.

This may all sound a bit negative, but all in all, it's not that bad. You need to watch this film for Fraser's acting alone. He consistently elevates mediocre material into something worth seeing.

My perspective on the work of Darren Aronofsky is very variable: I love (and they are part of my film library) "Requiem for a Dream" and "Black Swan"; I enjoyed "Noah" and "Mother!"; but I was not drawn to "Pi" or "The Fountain of Life." Undoubtedly, his thing is to take his characters to the limit of their emotions and even their mental stability. We also see that in "The Whale." I certainly give credit to the terrific acting work of Brendan Fraser, who deserves an Oscar, as well as the achievements of Judy Chin and Adrien Morot, as makeup director and prosthetic makeup designer, respectively. But Samuel D. Hunter's script didn't wow me. Yes, it portrays the agony, the fear and the sensitivity of a man who succumbed to morbid obesity precisely because of the first two emotions; and establishing a relationship with his daughter whom he abandoned years before creates a dynamic on screen that is emotionally difficult to watch. But the theatrical elements didn't quite fall into place for me: the story arc and character development failed to move me as the story deserved. It's a good movie, but without a doubt the leading performance stands out more along with his characterization than the movie itself.

"The Whale" is undeniably a powerful chamber drama that explores the self-destructive tendencies of a man unable to confront his grief and past mistakes. Although much smaller in scale, I could relate to his feelings of loneliness and emotional emptiness, as I too have turned to binge-eating junk food to fill the void, only to hate myself even more afterward. I just hope there will be a true friend like Liz near me in my last days.

While I enjoyed the film overall, I found the daughter's character to be a bit too one-dimensional and exaggerated, and her relationship with her father developed too quickly and mechanically. On the other hand, I found the way the film dealt with Charlie's relationships with Liz and his ex-wife to be much more complex and touching.

The inclusion of religion as a theme was unexpected, but it felt like it ended up absolving Liz and Charlie of responsibility. I would have preferred if their life choices were solely responsible for their downfall, instead of an external element over which they have limited control.

Nevertheless, “The Whale” still brought me to tears in several instances. It’s more of a crowd-pleaser, but it always stops just a step before exaggerated melodrama. The dynamic and cinematic direction also skillfully compensates for the limited setting and number of characters. For an Aronofsky film, it could almost be called sober, if not for the slightly sentimental ending.

I'm a large guy. I'm probably not AS large as Charlie. But I'm big enough that the difference is negligible because at some point you hit a weight where aspects of our story can be universal.

That being said, this was not a universal story of a big fat guy. This was overwrote with emotion. We don's sit around feeling sorry for ourselves at all times. We don't ALL stuff ourselves in a feverish attempt for suicide. We don't ALL sit around and do nothing and can't move on our own. It's bulls****. And while I understand that this is one story, when I heard about Brendan Frazier's performance, I was so ready to see this.

All things previously said, it doesn't mean that we don't have demons that we deal with. I had hoped/expected this movie to be a cathartic experience based on some pieces of truth to my life. But I couldn't find empathy for Charlie because he was a man that had just given up.

And the whole church kid angle was definitely weird and could have been done better. It's more than a bit stupid.

My Ratings

10 - I love it, regardless of quality
9 - Very good, might not love but very well done or might love, forgiving some issues
8 - Very enjoyable or Just OK for me but well done
7 - Good
6 - Watchable despite not liking the film/show
5 - Mid
3-4 - Not great, but got through it
1-2 - Very bad/You might be a communist if you like this garbage

I’m not gonna call this fatphohic, but Aronofsky makes some major mistakes with his direction here.
Yes, it’d be really easy to write this character like the nicest person who’s down on his luck, so at least it wasn’t approached in the most predictable, Academy friendly route. However, the more you see and learn about Charlie, the harder it becomes to feel any sense of empathy for this guy. At least that was my experience, but I’m generally not that easy to manipulate emotionally, so the fact that it works for so many people only highlights how good Brendan Fraser is. Still, it raises an important problem for me: you need to feel for him if you want the emotional pay-offs of the movie to work, so the movie at its core doesn’t quite land. Nevertheless, I acknowledge that this has some great performances, and I like what the movie’s getting at on a deeper level.

In terms of filmmaking and score I thought the movie was fine, it’s honestly a little disappointing compared to some of Aronofsky’s other work. The cinematography didn’t feel that special besides the choice to go with the 4:3 aspect ratio, while the music is a little cliché and overly reliant on dramatic string sections for the big moments. Overall, it’s a recommendation because of the risk taking, and its provocative attitude certainly feels like classic Aronofsky, but this material is not treated with the same amount of care as Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream or Pi.

6/10

In keeping with the reoccurring message of The Whale, I will write an honest review. I did not like this movie. It was good, but only that. In fact, I firmly suspect that the only reason it will receive most of the attention is simply because of the subject matter - not the least of which provoking the ire of "body-positivity" types.
See, this is merely a family drama. Replace the morbid obesity with cancer, and this is the nothing unique.
As an aside, I'll say that I typically like A24 movies, and I enjoy almost all of Aronofsky's films.
To repeat, this is nothing special. On a technical level, it's great, but the story is flat: A man, Charlie, is dying, and wants to reconnect with his estranged daughter, and ex wife. The end. The secondary characters never mattered to me. The details of Charlie's life never mattered to me. When I first heard about The Whale, I thought it was going to be an emotional rollercoaster, however it just...wasn't.
When the credits rolled, I gathered that this was based on a play. In other words, I haven't seen the play - maybe it's great. Doesn't change how I feel about the movie.
The only highlight I have to speak of is Brendan Fraser - as our lead, Charlie. I have never liked Fraser, as an actor, and feel that he is one of the most overrated mainstream actors. That being said, he was great here. I can't give the movie a high rating, but any points will be due to his performance.
I don't know who I could recommend this to. It's a family drama that lacks the needed emotional power to make it work. It's a story about grief and regret, but fails to build the necessary pieces within to have any impact.