Brendan Fraser stars in “The Whale”
“The Whale” is favored to win awards this Oscars’ season, but we wouldn’t exactly call it a “feel good film.”
Bohemian director Darren Aronofsky has brought his audiences some really colorful films over the years. Most notably in 2000 was his most established cult following film called “Requiem For a Dream,” followed by “The Wrestler,” “Black Swan,” and now “The Whale.” Starring an almost unrecognizable Brendan Fraser (“With Honors”), this new film is based on an off-Broadway play of the same name. It follows “Charlie,” a reclusive 600-pound, gay English teacher grieving the death of his partner, while trying to reconcile with his angry teenage daughter before he dies. Sounds like quite the mood lifter, right?
After its initial release, The Whale and its cast all received a six-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival. This role as Charlie is being called the revival of Fraser’s career, as he is a probable Oscar front-runner now. Let me tell you folks this movie was super heavy, no pun intended.
The entire movie was solely filmed in one darkened apartment which gave me an element of feeling claustrophobic. All of the supporting players, his nurse, daughter, and ex-wife played by a hard Samantha Morton, were all so snippy and angry. It reminded me a lot of my family reunions around the holidays; everyone chain-smoking while exhibiting a nervous twitch just to get through the event.
Brendan Fraser did have to pack on some poundage for this one, but in addition he wore a 300-pound prosthetic fat suit, which he had on for hours at a time. There were scenes that were downright difficult to watch. “Charlie” would emotionally gorge, while shoving multiple candy bars in his mouth stacked like poker chips just to satisfy his unhealthy addiction. All of Charlie’s enablers were more infuriating than he was. Supplying this man with whole buckets of fried KFC. Without insurance, and a crippling heart condition, he adamantly refused to be sent to the local hospital for fear of medical debt. I supposedly have great insurance myself, but recently incurred a $547 bill just for having yearly routine blood work. That was after paying the office co-pay and weekly deductions from my check. Oh, the privileges of being a fellow working taxpayer and American citizen are just enthralling!
Obesity is a real problem in this country, and certainly locally, just look around you. If anything, I took from The Whale, I have an even deeper appreciation for the struggle and emotional ties to weight issues. Internal body image and body shaming is no joke. As an early teen my grandmother would tell me “my clothes just hung on me like a skeleton.” She said I looked “sickly” because I was an ectomorph at the time. Sweet Gramma went as far as telling me “I would grow up to be a nobody, just like my alcoholic father.” One must take into consideration my Gram was an obese woman herself. She had deep issues against thin folks.
So, if you are planning on still wanting to check this one out, just make sure you pop your Wellbutrin before screening this Debbie downer. Brendan Fraser is clearly what elevates this drama as a whole, but I admittedly enjoyed him earlier in his career in the 1992 coming of age drama “School Ties” far better.
Christopher’s “Meow” Score: “6” paws out of 10.
