The Whale          4 stars

Darren Aronofsky’s adaptation of the play, The Whale is a devastating character study of a broken man on a path of self-destruction, but with real redeeming qualities. We meet Charlie, (played by Brendan Fraser who we have not seen on the screen in several years) a severely obese man living in a dirty, cheap apartment who is an English professor still teaching classes online. His laptop camera is always turned off when talking with his students. We slowly learn of his circumstances through his interactions with the other characters that include Liz, his friend and a nurse (the great Hong Chau), his estranged daughter, Ellie (Sadie Sink of Stranger Things), a young door to door missionary (Ty Simpkins) and his ex-wife (Samantha Morton). Charlie is a man who has suffered great pain in his life and abandoned his family years earlier. His great weight gain is attributed to this pain, resulting in his massive size of over 600 pounds and restricting his movement inside the apartment where he can only get around with the help of a walker. The entire movie takes place in the apartment where Charlie spends the majority of his time on the couch with his laptop and watching TV. The sight of his massive body created by a fat suit and some effective special effects is something that the audience cannot forget. Fraser does the best acting of his career, as the critics have said, expressing a wide range of emotion, from despair to self-loathing to hope for those around him. His greatest moments come when he sees the best aspects of others including seventeen year old daughter, Ellie, when others can only see failure. Much of the movie will feel like a real downer, but Charlie’s eternal optimism brings some real uplifting moments by the time it ends. Look for Fraser to be nominated for the Best Actor Oscar and I would not be surprised if he ends up actually winning. As for director, Aronofsky, The Whale adds to a list of successes that includes Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler, Black Swan and mother! (the last one especially for horror fans). For those that have yet to see The Whale, the title does not refer to the main character. I highly recommend it.