FULL SPOILER-FREE REVIEW @ https://www.msbreviews.com/movie-reviews/the-whale-spoiler-free-review-lff-2022

"The Whale earns its place in the "most tearful films of the year" list as it moves slowly yet efficiently towards its overwhelmingly emotional ending, especially elevated by the most subtly powerful & irrefutably moving performance of Brendan Fraser's career.

The rest of the cast contributes to the construction of a character with whom tremendous compassion is produced, but it isn't an easily digestible movie due to its disturbing, uncomfortable moments.

Darren Aronofsky presents... read the rest.

The Whale is a heart breaking story of our main character, Charlie (Brendon Fraser), as he tries to make amends for abandoning his daughter. Charlie is obese, an ailment that has manifested itself as a coping mechanism for a life of regret. In every scene and interaction this regret is worn by Charlie as a cloak of his past that will stay with him until his dying breath. This character is an immense undertaking and Brendon Fraser plays him perfectly. The emotion he delivers is palpable, which lends itself so seamlessly to scenes of raw sadness and despair. Not only is Fraser a highlight, but th... read the rest.

Yikes, but this second gay-themed outing for Brendan Fraser could hardly be more different from his 1998 "Gods and Monsters" one. Here his is the critically obese "Charlie" who has grown to a size where his health is in tatters and he has virtually no mobility as he regularly consumes two large pizzas for dinner and two great meatball subs for lunch. We learn quite quickly a little of what initially drove this man to this level of despair and as things begin to look terminal, we share his aspirations to reconcile with his daughter whom he left eight years earlier to be with his gay lover "Allan... read the rest.

I doubt I can add much more to what has already been said about 'The Whale', but in a word: Bravo!

Brendan Fraser truly is sensational in this role. I heard about all the acclaim and seen a few of the standing ovations he has received and all I can say is that it is unequivocally deserved. Truly outstanding from the first scene (yes, even with that... ha) to the very last. It's great to see the dude that I first saw as a kid in 'George of the Jungle' well and truly back in the game.

One thing about Fraser ge... read the rest.

I like this one. It really made me feel something.

write something honest

Any movie directed by Darren Aronofsky contains a lot of violent scenes that are unfamiliar and hard on the eyes to see. Darren Aronofsky is a director whose work must be eagerly awaited because one of his films, Requiem of Dream 2000, is one of my favorites.

The most important event in the movie The Whale is the star Brendan Fraser, after suffering from many health problems, especially with the spine, and was forced to perform surgeries, in addition to the withdrawal of lights and fame from him, and his playing movie roles that didn't achieve wide success.

Brend... read the rest.

By: Louisa Moore / www.ScreenZealots.com

This film was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival

When thinking about “The Whale,” I feel it’s important to start at the end rather than the beginning because the melodramatic finale almost ruins everything that’s good about the film. The finale is grossly manipulative, corny, excessive, and if what came before wasn’t so great, it would diminish director Darren Aronofsky’s entire project. Thanks to a heartbreaking script (from writer Samuel D. Hunter) and a once-in-a-lifetime lead performance from Brendan Fraser, it takes litt... read the rest.

At least partly because this movie was based on a play, most of the action takes place in one room. Of course, the nature of the character’s health issues makes it hard for him to move around, but I think the limited setting worked against the film. Maybe it is just my eyes getting older, but the cinematography of The Whale seems to follow the current trend of being dark, dark, dark. Are they desperate to show the mood through lighting, were they trying to simulate the inside of a whale’s stomach, or is it less expensive to film in the gloomy interiors, or what? Would it kill them to turn on a... read the rest.