La baleine

TLDR: I liked The Whale, all things considered. This is a touching, sometimes difficult-to-watch, but frequently interesting and engaging movie, anchored by a stellar performance from Brendan Fraser. He really shines here. But, the movie is a bit too melodramatic and unsubtle for its own good, and can be a bit one-note, especially given it's runtime.

The Good:

1. Brendan Fraser. If a Best Actor win wasn't enough, let this lowly IMDB critic confirm it: Fraser is amazing in this movie. His performance isn't just "sad" and it isn't just him crying. He transforms into this character and expresses a pantheon of emotions; it's a truly remarkable and powerful performance that is worth the watch alone. Fraser's Charlie is a broken man, but a smart, kind, and fundamentally optimistic one. He's a complex and interesting character, and one I found myself really rooting for. Fiction is the ultimate empathy machine and while you don't have to love Charlie, I think it's fair to ask you understand him and where he's coming from.

2. The rest of the cast (mostly). Hong Chau is great in this movie as Charlie, I also (mostly) liked Sadie Sink as Ellie. Sink's raw talent shines through, yet again, even if her character can be unbearable at times. Ty Simpkins rounds out the cast as Thomas, a missionary from an Evangelical church, and gives a pretty good, and likeable performance.

3. The "stage play aesthetic." This film feels very much like a stage play, and I wasn't surprised to learn it was based on one. While some might decry its lacking cinematic quality, I actually really liked the confined setting, repeating stage play cues (i.e. The knock), and general pace of the movie. At points, I sort of felt I was watching a play, and I liked that quality of it.

4. The philosophy (mostly). I think this film has a nice outlook and explores some big questions in an interesting, if sometimes melodramatic way. It's actually quite astonishing how much the film really ends up being about given its setting and subject matter, and while I don't think all the positions are satisfying, A for effort.

5. The make up and set design. I feel like I could smell Charlie's house whilst watching this movie. Yes, the set is simple but it really feels like a place someone is living, as opposed to a set. Charlie...looks fantastic. The make-up and prosthetics truly transform Fraser.

The Bad:

• The philosophy. At the same time, I think this movie frequently veers into melodrama. Fraser's whole speech about um...college not mattering because what matters is (*checks papers*) that you can write a short sentence about yourself is what REALLY matters...was cringey, to say the least. The movie is extremely on the nose at times and sometimes feels like it's hand holding the audience. Aronofsky typically makes quite challenging movies, and I have to wonder if the studio insist he make this clearer and more straightforward.

• One note. Another thing, and consider this a minor negative, but aside from a few moments of levity, this is an otherwise pretty miserable movie. I don't know, felt like given the run time, we could've used a bit more variety.

• Sadie Sink and her Mom. I understand why Sink's Ellie acts the way she does, and I feel she is redeemed in the end, but OH MAN, is she one of the most irritating teens I've seen on screen in a while. Samantha Morton's Mary on the other hand...gave one of the most "play like" performances in the film, with even her voice sounding weirdly clearer and louder than others in the film. It's as if she's...on stage or something, and maybe it was intentional, but her scene just felt off to me for that reason.

Imagine that there was complete silence in the hall for 2 minutes after the end of the movie (The Whale). You don't come across something like that very often. Brendan Frazer, directed by Darren Aronofsky, gave an incredible, amazing performance. When you watching this movie, you felt certain feelings at once. Such films don't happen often, but when they do, they change the cinema for the better. This psychological drama about guilt, loss, and trauma is one of the best films of this year. I hope it wins all the awards it will be nominated for, most importantly in the best actor category ( Brendan Frazer). He will probably win.

I recomend this movie and authorize it as factual from my life standpoint. The doctors told me I only had 5 to 10 years left in me. It was suggested that Bariatric surgury is the only way things will change. Since December 27th, 2022, 6 months later, I am 220lbs. I have had diabetes. I no longer have diabetes since I changed my diet. I never knew how disgusting I was or how much food I ate in one day because the chemicals in the High Fructose Corn Syrup that soda contained were causing my addiction to drinking more soda. My house was filled with garbage on the ground, and I couldn't even wipe myself or turn around; I couldn't even fit in the car that well to drive.

I only drove my car to the doctor and had the groceries delivered. Watching these academy award winners on the big screen affected me emotionally because it reflected my life. It destroys me, showing my life from a different perspective. This is as real as it gets people; this exists, and this story has no fiction in it. My issues were PTSD, X's wife, and her taking my children away. My children are older now, and we are getting reconnected. I do not blame anyone else for my problems, only me. I cried when the Xwife wanted to hear his heart and lungs; that scene hit home and affected me in many ways. What about my daughter? Well, it's not been easy, she doesn't talk much to me, and I am only in her life when she needs something; like Fraiser, I saved up all the money for her.

Thank you for reading my review, The doctors now say that I might reach 90 now because of all the changes I made and hopefully I will witness a few grandchildren along the way. I am alive today because I made the choice to live. It was hard to make that choice because psychologically I didnt believe anything was wrong with me even though I was deathly ill. Makes me think.... Am I creating my own life simulation? AmI still deathly ill even though I am healthy again? How much do we take our lives for granted?

I looooved this movie. It is clearly based on a play, and if you can accept that from the start and just take it all in, this movie really takes you into emotional spaces i didn't expect.

At some parts I admittedly laughed when I shouldn't but when the film reaches culmination it's impossible to not be taken by the beautiful agony of this tale.

This will win a best lead Oscar and bc Aranofsky used so much restraint I suspect he will be snubbed but as with all his films I guarantee you wont be able to shake this movie off.

This is legit art and it will make you uncomfortable, but unlike Mother -- it will be totally justified in the end.

See The Whale just to watch consummate actors, Branden Fraser and Sadie Sink, playing father and daughter, furiously catch up with each other after years of separation. Set in Charlie's apartment, just big enough for his morbidly huge body, The Whale is not only about the reconciliation of this odd couple and the survival of obese Charlie but rather about how obsession can consume faster than a greasy piece of pizza.

Besides his abuse of food, Charlie refuses to let the Zoomed-in students see him in his rolling flesh. Yet, he is not self-centered or food-obsessed enough not to care about others, especially his flinty daughter, Ellie (Sadie Sink, so much like a young Ellen Page), for whom he writes college essays (he teaches writing) and saves for her over $100K. His heart is as big, well, as his body.

Writer Samuel D. Hunter (also author of the play) and director Darren Aronofsky move Charlie toward either reclamation or death; they remind us he did abandon normal life for a gay love, who eventually committed suicide, and over whom Charlie has not recovered. Good enough for Charlie to despair and abandon himself to food.

Ellie's finishing high school is Charlie's other obsession, and whether or not they all can survive their confrontation is the abiding suspense. Pervading the drama is a sense of regret in almost every character except maybe the pizza delivery boy, Dan (Sathya Sridharan). Even Charlie's ex, Mary (excellent Samantha Morton), suffers the sorrows of their split family.

Hong Chau, who has had a great year, if only for her role in Triangle of Sadness, plays the gritty Liz, a caretaker for Charlie and true friend, regretting Charlie's descent that allows no trips to the hospital and hides his money for his unstable daughter.

The itinerant Jesus fan, Thomas (Ty Simpkins), is food for another essay but for now an effective emblem of the intricate characters supporting Charlie's journey. Herman Melville lends figurative richness to the proceedings. If I haven't convinced you of the gold in this small film about a big man, go see it to witness my prediction that Fraser will win Globes and Oscar.