Last night I was doom scrolling YouTube when in a passing comment in a video mentioned The Whale with Brendon Fraser and that it was good. I found it on Paramount + and took a look. Friends, I was not disappointed.
The Whale is a drama about a morbidly obese man trying to reconnect with his daughter before he dies. Charlie, played by Brendon Fraser, is an online English teacher. One of the movies themes is honesty. The kind of brutal honesty that most people don’t want to hear. After years of inauthenticity in his life and his work Charlie appreciates and is looking for this kind of genuine expression. He is optimistic when by all accounts he has nothing to be optimistic about. That’s the key thing that makes him so likable.
I had a hard time with this movie and I’m having a hard time writing about it now. First, I related Charlie to my father who didn’t take care of himself and died early. Charlie is apologetic to the people around him while simultaneously not changing or doing anything to improve his situation. We see his insecurity, depression, and struggle to cope and its heartbreaking.
I’m having a hard time putting everything swirling around in my head into words so I will wrap it up here. The Whale is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time. Definitely worth a watch. Â