The Whale
In titling a film, you only get one chance at making a great first impression. For a film like “The Whale,” a would-be moviegoer associates the title with the man’s size and assumes it is likely a crazy diet comeback story and declines to see it. “The Whale” just might be the biggest film surprise of 2023, and I assure you that it is not what you think it is.
The film stars former 90s hunk actor Brendan Fraser as Charlie, a reclusive college English professor who hides his face on camera when teaching courses while serially ordering enormous pizzas. It is no secret that Charlie might have a week at best to live, and he’s determined to reconnect with his estranged adolescent daughter, Ellie, played with fiery angst by “Stranger Things” actress Sadie Sink.
Ellie has no problem letting the humiliations fly at Charlie with unrelenting speed. He abandoned her and her mother years earlier over another lover, only to deal with grief in an unexpected way, which is of course compulsively eating. His only real companion is his personal nurse, Liz, played with a gallows humor by actress Hong Chau. Director Darren Aronofsky has done a masterful job at bringing playwright Samuel Hunter’s work to the big screen, as in true play fashion, this film is set entirely in Charlie’s rainy apartment with only a half dozen characters.
Fraser hits the perfect dramatic notes as a flawed and failed man who uses what little time he has left to put right what once went so greatly wrong in his life and that of his daughter Ellie. Aronofsky packs the film with plenty of heavy drama, but chooses precisely when to sneak in one or two unexpected humorous scenes to give the audience and Charlie a break from being reminded that one’s life is indeed fatalistic. The levity brought in makes the characters in this film feel all the more real and by the time the film was nearing the end there wasn’t a dry eye in the auditorium and plenty of people were absolutely riveted upon its sudden ending.
In 2009, Aronofsky had another flawed character film in “The Wrestler” starring Mickey Rourke as a man who is on borrowed time and strives to right a whole lot of wrongs. What that film lacked in reconciliation, Aronofsky more than makes up for it here. “The Whale” is the most honest acting performance that Fraser has ever done, and he currently has the accolades to prove it.
To Leslie
One of the more unique aspects of Oscar season is seeing little-known films and actors/actresses being nominated. Andrea Riseborough is an English actress with a dozen or so noir films to her name (my personal favorite is “Mandy”), and she’s finally broken through to U.S. audiences with “To Leslie,” a hard luck film. Riseborough stars as the titular Leslie, an alcoholic Texas mom who suddenly wins the lottery and then proceeds to squander it away. Director Michael Morris paints a rather bleak tale, letting Riseborough sink as low as one human can go, only to have her rise like a phoenix through some very unforgiving ashes. “To Leslie” isn’t a comeback story, but Riseborough has taken dramatic care in showing you that redemption can come in any form.
In titling a film, you only get one chance at making a great first impression. For a film like “The Whale,” a would-be moviegoer associates the title with the man’s size and assumes it is likely a crazy diet comeback story and declines to see it. “The Whale” just might be the biggest film surprise of 2023, and I assure you that it is not what you think it is.
The film stars former 90s hunk actor Brendan Fraser as Charlie, a reclusive college English professor who hides his face on camera when teaching courses while serially ordering enormous pizzas. It is no secret that Charlie might have a week at best to live, and he’s determined to reconnect with his estranged adolescent daughter, Ellie, played with fiery angst by “Stranger Things” actress Sadie Sink.
Ellie has no problem letting the humiliations fly at Charlie with unrelenting speed. He abandoned her and her mother years earlier over another lover, only to deal with grief in an unexpected way, which is of course compulsively eating. His only real companion is his personal nurse, Liz, played with a gallows humor by actress Hong Chau. Director Darren Aronofsky has done a masterful job at bringing playwright Samuel Hunter’s work to the big screen, as in true play fashion, this film is set entirely in Charlie’s rainy apartment with only a half dozen characters.
Fraser hits the perfect dramatic notes as a flawed and failed man who uses what little time he has left to put right what once went so greatly wrong in his life and that of his daughter Ellie. Aronofsky packs the film with plenty of heavy drama, but chooses precisely when to sneak in one or two unexpected humorous scenes to give the audience and Charlie a break from being reminded that one’s life is indeed fatalistic. The levity brought in makes the characters in this film feel all the more real and by the time the film was nearing the end there wasn’t a dry eye in the auditorium and plenty of people were absolutely riveted upon its sudden ending.
In 2009, Aronofsky had another flawed character film in “The Wrestler” starring Mickey Rourke as a man who is on borrowed time and strives to right a whole lot of wrongs. What that film lacked in reconciliation, Aronofsky more than makes up for it here. “The Whale” is the most honest acting performance that Fraser has ever done, and he currently has the accolades to prove it.
To Leslie
One of the more unique aspects of Oscar season is seeing little-known films and actors/actresses being nominated. Andrea Riseborough is an English actress with a dozen or so noir films to her name (my personal favorite is “Mandy”), and she’s finally broken through to U.S. audiences with “To Leslie,” a hard luck film. Riseborough stars as the titular Leslie, an alcoholic Texas mom who suddenly wins the lottery and then proceeds to squander it away. Director Michael Morris paints a rather bleak tale, letting Riseborough sink as low as one human can go, only to have her rise like a phoenix through some very unforgiving ashes. “To Leslie” isn’t a comeback story, but Riseborough has taken dramatic care in showing you that redemption can come in any form.