The Whale

Grade: B+

I am a supporter of movies made from plays. I think it gives your typical moviegoer – who may not normally be a theatregoer – an exploration into the human condition that they wouldn’t get in the midst of the flights to the danger zone, panthers, and tall long-haired blue people who swim for 3 hours. These plays-cum-films can expand horizons and probably some attention spans. The Big Kahuna, Hurlyburly, and Talk Radio are a few favorites.

And now director Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem For a Dream, Black Swan, mother!) has put his unmistakeable stamp on The Whale, based on the play by Samuel D. Hunter. A theatre in my city of Atlanta (Actor’s Express) did it in the mid-2010s. Unfortunately, I didn’t see it, but because of that production, I was well aware of the general premise when I heard it was being brought to the silver screen. I have a feeling not much was changed in the transition from stage to cinema (theatre to theater, if you will).

The Whale (the movie) takes place in March 2016. We meet Charlie. Reclusive. Gay. Divorced. Morbidly obese. He never lets his students see him in the online English composition classes he teaches. He is a black square on the computer screen – always claiming a broken laptop camera. He is in such bad shape, that we learn early in the movie that he likely has less than a week to live. The other characters that literally enter the scene include Charlie’s estranged teenage daughter (a marvelous Sadie Sink, from Stranger Things), a bright eyed, bushy-tailed door-to-door Jehovah’s Witness type, played by Ty Simpkins (Harley Keener from the MCU), Charlie’s ex-wife (Samantha Morton), and his good friend and nurse, Liz (Hong Chau). As much as I recently enjoyed her in The Menu, she is even better here, and I’d nominate her for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. It’s not just that the character is great, but in her we have an actor who rises to the same level with an authentic, emotionally charged performance.

At the center is Brendan Fraser as Charlie. I often forgot it was him, and not just because of the fat suit, prosthetics, and actual weight he put on. They like to give awards to people who gain weight, lose weight, or otherwise drastically change their appearance for a role. Fraser will probably receive an Oscar nomination, but not just for the aforementioned reasons. There are levels to his performance. Observe his smile and the way his eyes light up when he talks to or about his daughter. She’s his pride and joy, even though she’s not very nice to him. His passion for teaching about writing is palpable. While writing this, I often stopped to wonder how he would grade this if it were a paper for his class – then I’d remember that he is a fictional character.

Certain moments are more suited for a live theatre setting than a movie. Characters seemed to conveniently enter on cue a few too many times, and psychological claustrophobia may set in, due to it all taking place in one cluttered apartment. These are all elements that are more forgivable (and expected) at the playhouse. But when it works, which is most of the time, The Whale is a triumphant success. At the end of my showing, the ebullient man sitting next to me turned to me and said “Now THAT was a f@$&ing movie!” I replied “Oh, yeah. Makes me want to see the play.”

Grade: B+