The Whale

Movie: The Whale

Nominated for: Best Actor

How I watched: AMC

When I fell asleep: No

When it had me: Small moments of truth

When it lost me: Big moments of statement

What systems does it challenge: Religion

Content Warning: Suicide, Abuse

I felt very smug about realizing this was based on a play about 15 minutes into it. It just reeks of the stage, and in some ways suffers form the fact that plays somehow lose their magic quality by being put on the screen. 

That said, it is successful as a movie, as well. The writing comes close to being overly simplistic and too broad, but I think they manage to pull through without losing too much to those tendencies. This is about trauma and its rippling effect on the world around the traumatized, It's about defeat and loneliness and also about the things we hold onto when we are drowning; hope, art, sustenance, fantasy.

Brendan Fraser is really great in this performance and Hong Chau almost steals the show with her conflicted, exhausted and reluctantly deeply caring character. Sadie Sink felt out of her element and I don't know if that was due to her choices or the direction.

I can't decide how I feel about the use of fat suits and make up prosthetics on screen. Many believe that it's essentially akin to black face and must stop. Others think actors need to be allowed to act and take on traits that are different than their own in order to tell a story. I know I don't want gay actors to be told they can only play gay characters, so I err on the side of letting people perform. But I'm open to hearing more opinions on this matter, if anyone wants to talk!