BY EDUARDO DIAZ
The Whale; is Darren Aronofsky's latest directorial venture, based on the play by Samuel D. Hunter.
Brendan Fraser stars in The Whale
It is about a morbidly obese man who isolates himself from the world and is trying to reconnect with his daughter as a last effort to be a positive influence in her life.
The buzz is entirely true. Brendan Fraser brings the acting performance of a lifetime with the character of Charlie. The compassion he can make you feel throughout the movie is nothing short of an incredible achievement.
His performance is also magnified to another level, thanks to the makeup and costume department.
The bodysuit element of the film is made to perfection. And whenever the bodysuit is shown at its full potential during the movie, it is a complete scene stealer.
This brings me to what I felt is the movie's strong point: its performances. All the characters are brought to life beautifully by the actors and help the film keep a great sense of
rhythm and emotion.
All actors have a scene where they can shine and power through waves of emotions, which are then reciprocated by the audience, with the film's highlights aside from Fraser being Sadie Sink and Hong Chau.
The movie faults a due to its setting as the film takes place entirely in Charlie's apartment, and it becomes stale after a while.
The setting makes sense to help with Charlie's characterization in terms of his struggles. But, it still leads to visuals that get old quickly.
Despite its repetitiveness, there is a visually satisfying payoff at the film's end.
The Whale is a movie by Darren Aronofsky, which surprisingly has a heart even with the darker themes and character arcs throughout the film.
With a few missteps, some of them being the one singular setting, sometimes flimsy dialogue, or one character that didn’t land completely it still has a lot to offer as a movie, especially because of the performances which make the price of admission completely worth it.