The Whale - A Review

Greetings there! Today I want to talk about a movie I've seen recently from A24, The Whale. As you may probably know, this movie was nominated for the Oscars, so I was looking forward to see what's the fuss about. If you don't know, The Whale is a drama movie about a lonely man with a sever case of obesity who wants to reconnect to his daughter in the last days before he dies. 

Now, the premise sounds nice, the cast is amazing (Brendan Fraser as Charlie, Sadie Sink as Ellie, Hong Chau as Liz etc.) and I really trust the studio A24. So, my expectations were very high. Aaaand... I mean I won't say I was disappointed, but I think this movie is just okay. (Keep in mind please, this is just my opinion and I'm not a film critic.) It didn't blow my mind or anything. I liked it, but I didn't love it. 

The cinematography was great. This movie looks really good and I think the aspect ratio and lighting used suits the vibe the producers were going for. However, in terms of the story, I feel like some characters were underdeveloped, the ending was...weird and the build up to that point is just not fitting in comparison to it. Some beliefs of the characters are a bit forced (yeah, I'm talking about something at the end with Thomas, for those who've seen the movie) and the emotional scenes didn't hit that well for me, although the performances were excellent. 

I really enjoyed Ellie's character and her relationship with her dad and Thomas, but it felt just a minor part of the movie, although the trailer teases that their father-daughter relationship plays a more important role.

Also, the metaphor of the Moby Dick and the fact that this film is named The Whale is a very interesting choice to add more layers on Charlie's character, but I think it's surface level and I wanted it to dive deeper. For the position in which he is, I think we should of have gotten a bit more in depth about Charlie's eating disorder and the relationship with that, otherwise the message of this movie feels... just strange because of the lack of substance. 

Overall, it's a good movie and it will probably hit close to home for some people, but in my opinion it is not a masterpiece.