[FILM]
THE WHALE
Charlie (Brendan Foster): not having a whale of a time.
★★★
OUT 3 FEBRUARY / CERT TBC 117 MINS
DIRECTOR Darren Aronofsky
CAST Brendan Fraser, Sadie Sink, Hong Chau, Ty Simpkins, Samantha Morton
PLOT Charlie (Fraser) is an incredibly reclusive, very overweight teacher, struggling to connect with his students via video-calls, while processing past trauma. When friend and nurse Liz (Chau) tells him his health is rapidly deteriorating, he attempts to strike up a relationship with his estranged teenage daughter, Ellie (Sink).
DARREN ARONOFSKY APPEARS to be a director fascinated with extremity. With Black Swan, he depicted just how far someone can push themselves to achieve perfection. With Requiem For A Dream, it was the depths to which an addict can spiral. In The Whale, extremity is expressed through a man named Charlie (Brendan Fraser), who pushes human limits with his size and hermetic lifestyle. What’s interesting is that the most resonant parts of this film — and Charlie — aren’t found in the remarkable, but the mundane.