It is absolutely no secret that Darren Aronofsky is one of favorite filmmakers of all time, from Requiem For A Dream, to Black Sawn to Mother and a few others. Aronofsky masters at taking a handful of actors and actresses and giving them an unforgettable transformative performance. That is most certainly the case with Brendan Fraser who gives one of the most touching, heartbreaking and powerful performances of the year. Words can’t even begin to describe how much goes into his performance, Fraser’s character Charlie has so many layers to him there’s the side of him that is shown quite a lot throughout the film someone who has this very positive attitude even when he is being completely judged he tries to laugh it off or ignore it. Then there’s the side where he’s in pain he’s tired of people judging him for who he is, which leads to the film’s theme of people completely judging you without even trying to understand you as well the film itself challenging the viewer on stereotypes. This is something I’m sure everyone has went through at some point in their life and it’s shown wonderfully here, Charlie is a character that someone can easily connect with, I’ve said before that I’m autistic and in the past I’ve been judged for it yet I try to be as positive as I can be. But deep down inside I’m trying not to cry being judged for who you are is a very real pain and as I said earlier the way the film portrays that is just masterful. Hong Chu and Sadie Sink are both incredible here, they both deliver strong performances that each contribute to the film. Hong Chu delivers such an honest performance her character Liz has some of the most casual dialogue with Charlie from a film in 2022. Elle played by Sadie Sink is Charlie’s daughter who Charlie constantly says is a beautiful person and wants to help out no matter what, it doesn’t matter whether Elle is horrible to him. He still wants to help which leads to some very beautiful moments from Fraser, this all leads up to the final moments of the film. The last few scenes are truly heartbreaking and very real, Charlie thinking about the moments he enjoyed most with his family and really celebrates those moments is truly crushing and absolutely powerful with every meaning of the word, the writing combined with the direction is truly incredible and completely makes the film into something special.
The Whale is playing in theaters.
10/10 A+
Jerome Reviews... 