The Whale (2022)

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1. 

   SpacedJ

   Darren Aronofsky is the master of making an amazing film that affects me deeply that I also never want to see again. 1 year 1 month ago
2. 

   Matt Addis

   While The Whale deals with a lot of familiar themes Aronofsky has explored before (addiction, a man at the end of his life facing regret, toxic father/daughter relationships), I still found it incredibly disturbing and quite emotionally affecting. For several days I couldn’t get it out of my head. But then again, one doesn’t go into an Aronofsky film expecting a good time.
   
   Sadie Sink and Hong Chau are excellent as a supporting cast, and of course the star of the show is Brendan Fraser, who gives the performance of the year and possibly a lifetime.
   
   One thing I noticed is how both the father and the daughter have a common ground in how their inner life conflicts with the way the world perceives them. Society sees Charlie as a obscenely fat monster, but doesn’t see him as the intelligent and kind person he really is. Likewise many dismiss Ellie’s savage behavior as sociopathy, when it reality she is a brilliant and compassionate person who uses cruelty as a shield after her father hurt her so deeply. Only Charlie’s immense empathy can see through it, and it what finally gives them

   a breakthrough at the end

   1 year 1 month ago
3. 

   Siskoid

   I know that The Whale was a play, but I was still surprised at how straightforward Aronofsky's take on it was. I kept expecting it to get into surreal territory, especially with the doom-saying missionary who comes knocking a few times. But he lets it be what it's meant to be, an acting showcase and literate drama, couched (pun not intended) in material pulled from the Bible and, most especially, Moby Dick. Brendan Fraser is incredibly sympathetic as a morbidly obese man, in physical and mental pain, whose heart is about to give out and knows it - that's one of the more obvious metaphors - and is well supported by a strong cast. Moby Dick also brings in the idea of obsession, which translates as both itself and addiction for a number of characters. And then there's a complex interplay of intention vs. result, with contradictory examples of cruel kindness and kind cruelty (epitomized by the monstrously angry daughter played by Sadie Sink), the idea that we can inadvertently cause harm while trying to do good very much at the forefront of the main character's guilt, but he's a victim of it as well. Protection by omission is only one aspect of this, and what we have here is a character who has omitted himself from the world to protect others. 1 year 3 months ago

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