Warning: This review might contain spoilers.
⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
BRANDEN Fraser was one of the most sought Hollywood stars during his time. However, he disappeared from the acting scene in the middle of his roaring 20s, facing several dilemmas.
Despite struggling with severe depression, health problems, divorce, and the death of his mother, Fraser emerged stronger as he made a comeback in his acting career.
In his most recent film, The Whale, he has proven that he still had the charm he once showed roughly a decade ago.
While it was no surprise that Fraser received an Oscars nod for his performance in this Darren Aronofsky film, there is undoubtedly more to this masterpiece than a surreal, dramatic, and lumbering American psychological drama movie.
SUGGESTED STORIES:
SEA Games Mission: PFF Gears Up for Golden Run
NOW more than ever, the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) is.
Pres. BongBong Marcos strikes defense deals in India
New Delhi, India: The Philippines and India signed a raft.
Song Young-kyu, Actor From ‘Extreme Job’, Dies at 55
SOUTH Korean actor Song Young-kyu was found dead Monday morning,.
‘The Whale’ film at a glance
The film is a motion picture adaptation of Samuel D. Hunter’s 2012 theatrical play bearing the same title.
The Whale follows the story of Charlie, portrayed by Fraser, a chronically obese online English instructor who attempts to reconcile with his estranged daughter. Charlie’s life turned upside down when his partner, Allan, died.
Standing 600 lbs, the English instructor who has never shown his face to his students online has been struggling with congestive heart disease and is nearing the end of his life. He then re-encounters his resentful daughter Ellie, played by Stranger Things actress Sadie Sink, and attempts to reconnect with her by writing her essays in school.
Its title did not only come from Charlie’s physical appearance. Still, it was also extracted from a child’s essay on the 1851 novel Mobydick, which happened to be Charlie’s favorite piece of writing.
Charlie’s grotesque beauty
Although Charlie is portrayed as a self-loathing, self-pitying, morbidly obese gay man overflowing with sorrow, regret, and desperation, there is something beautiful behind this man who’s seen chiefly sulking and eating at the far side of his overused couch.
Fraser portrayed this character as someone filled with warmth, positivity, and passion that can be found in his voice’s melody, encouraging words and poetic soul.
And despite his tragic and almost unforgivable past, where he abandoned his wife and then eight-year-old child to convene with his former student, these manipulative emotions emanated from Charlie, where viewers couldn’t help but feel merciful toward his sins.
While the film consistently painted Charlie as someone grotesque, almost monstrous, Fraser could still communicate this character’s humanity. Albeit limited by humongous prosthetics around his body, Fraser, who is as great as he was in the 90s, used his eyes and facial expressions to convey various emotions. He could swing from grief, rejection-induced melancholia, abjection, spiritual longing, misery, hope for the future, to genuine joy.
There was something calculating with these artistic expressions as he used these emotions to continuously pull the audience into the film’s underlying essence — redemption and loneliness.
