The Whale (2022)
Country: US
Technical: col/1.33:1 117m
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Cast: Brendan Fraser, Sadie Sink, Hong Chau, Ty Simpkins, Samantha Morton
Synopsis:
An online English essay-writing coach spends the last week of his life fending off a doorstep Christian and trying to reconcile with his estranged daughter.
Review:
The protagonist's pathological obesity is envisioned as both a grief mechanism and a self-punishment: familiar territory, then, for Aronofsky, whose characters regularly indulge in self-destructive or redemptive behaviour. The film does not attempt to transcend its theatrical limitations but embraces them, indeed reduces them further by closing down the aspect ratio and working with the reduced light conditions of a cluttered (though remarkably clean) condo. Everything hinges on the performances, and Aronofsky builds the drama skilfully up to its shattering conclusion, a feat he has always excelled at, at times to excess. Rarely in the cinema has a piece of written work carried so much weight (no pun intended).
Country: US
Technical: col/1.33:1 117m
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Cast: Brendan Fraser, Sadie Sink, Hong Chau, Ty Simpkins, Samantha Morton
Synopsis:
An online English essay-writing coach spends the last week of his life fending off a doorstep Christian and trying to reconcile with his estranged daughter.
Review:
The protagonist's pathological obesity is envisioned as both a grief mechanism and a self-punishment: familiar territory, then, for Aronofsky, whose characters regularly indulge in self-destructive or redemptive behaviour. The film does not attempt to transcend its theatrical limitations but embraces them, indeed reduces them further by closing down the aspect ratio and working with the reduced light conditions of a cluttered (though remarkably clean) condo. Everything hinges on the performances, and Aronofsky builds the drama skilfully up to its shattering conclusion, a feat he has always excelled at, at times to excess. Rarely in the cinema has a piece of written work carried so much weight (no pun intended).
Country: US
Technical: col/1.33:1 117m
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Cast: Brendan Fraser, Sadie Sink, Hong Chau, Ty Simpkins, Samantha Morton
Synopsis:
An online English essay-writing coach spends the last week of his life fending off a doorstep Christian and trying to reconcile with his estranged daughter.
Review:
The protagonist's pathological obesity is envisioned as both a grief mechanism and a self-punishment: familiar territory, then, for Aronofsky, whose characters regularly indulge in self-destructive or redemptive behaviour. The film does not attempt to transcend its theatrical limitations but embraces them, indeed reduces them further by closing down the aspect ratio and working with the reduced light conditions of a cluttered (though remarkably clean) condo. Everything hinges on the performances, and Aronofsky builds the drama skilfully up to its shattering conclusion, a feat he has always excelled at, at times to excess. Rarely in the cinema has a piece of written work carried so much weight (no pun intended).