Blu-ray Review The Whale – Bluray review (1 Viewer)

[Sam Posten]

Charlie (Brendan Frasier) is an obese gay man on the verge of heart failure. He lives a sullen, hidden, life teaching online students to be better writers behind the façade of a broken webcam. The only regular visitors to his apartment are his housekeeper Liz (Hong Chau), and random interlopers including stray birds, the pizza delivery guy and a missionary named Thomas (Ty Simpkins). Later his daughter Ellie (Sadie Sink) stops in and provides the catalyst for the film: Charlie wants to make amends for the time lost between them before he dies and Ellie wants to vent her angst and anger over Charlie abandoning her and her mother over Charlie’s gay affair. Charlie’s self inflicted obesity is more than meets the eye tho, as all of the characters have hidden traumas and motives behind who they are and how they see the world. Ultimately Charlie’s internal optimism will be put to trial against the demons he carries with him.



The Whale (2022)...

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[Tino]

I thought the film was perfect and was my favorite of last year. It wrecked me. Fraser was extraordinary as were Chau and Sink.

 

[battlebeast]

Boy, you didn’t like this film, did you?

Anyway, you’re saying the audio/video presentation on the disc isn’t very good?

The 1.33 aspect ratio was done for a reason, to give the feeling of being closed in. I liked that.

 

[Tino]

And for the record, I am obese too and found nothing offensive in the film. On the contrary I thought Charlie was portrayed in a wonderful and touching realistic way.

 

[Indy Guy]

Like alcohol and drugs, food can become an addiction over which a person can lose control in their need to escape from reality.
The results of any serious addiction can rot the mind or body and only the person involved can initiate steps necessary to stop the destructive cycle.
If you know someone threatened by substance abuse, you know the overwhelming compulsion to continue the self destructive acts. Many of us are addicted to movies, and that becomes a mild form of escapism. While addictive it is not generally destructive.
Though somewhat hard to watch a person descending into an irreversible addiction, The Whale was one of the best films of 2022.

 

[battlebeast]

I too am considered “obese,” though not nearly as bad as Charlie. It WAS A choice for me; I just ate waaaay too much junk food at the wrong times in my life.

But to say it’s offensive to bigger people… I just don’t see it.

 

[Noel Aguirre]

Couldn’t they find a fat actor to play this role? Not since Shallow Hal have I seen such fat shaming. Fat suits are the black face to overweight people IMO

 

[Noel Aguirre]

Did Anne Bancroft slap a fat suit on Don Knotts when she made Fatso? No she hired Dom Deluise.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Thanks for the review, Sam. I thought it was interesting and thoughtful. I mostly try to avoid reviews of films I have not seen but have an interest in. I have not seen this yet because I just can't make up my mind about Aronofsky. I find him an interesting filmmaker and fell into following him with his first picture, Pi, which I loved and may remain my favorite of his works. The thing I have come to realize about his pictures is that I tend to not have much interest in revisiting them. He seems to like to wallow in depressing issues and attempts to milk the dramatic from them. While this can be a foundation for a good story, it also can feel manipulative in the extreme. He has fallen in with another filmmaker I like but also feel is overly manipulative with his pictures, Lars von Trier. With both of these guys I often feel them trying, well, way too hard to manipulate the audience. Clearly, I can see that both are very talented filmmakers but in subject matter and approach over time they seem to lose me.

I'd love to see both of these guys take a more nuanced approach to a story, where they let the audience come to the tale more than bashing the audience over the head with the subject matter. Their pictures often feel like an assault. Which I think some people enjoy but I kind of want my film experience to be interactive rather than reactive. I know we seem to be in a period of filmmaking where the goal seems more to bash us directly in the face, have us sit in our chairs and stare at the screen and let the film tell us what to feel. I think it is just where we are at that pictures now what to be very direct in telling us what to feel, what to think, and that there should only be a single reaction to the work.

None of this is really commentary on this picture, because I have not watched it, but rather just an explanation of why I have not felt like getting around to this yet. Aronofsky seems to be a filmmaker, based on looking at all of his work except The Whale, that is hit or miss for me and that seems to often just want to poke me in the same place. Mother! was different in that it seemed a crazy black comedy to me, or if he did not mean it that way, just an entirely ridiculous film...with a good message in that we should be good to Mother Nature, as she has been very good to us.

I always think of Kubrick saying that since you are going to spend a long time on getting a picture made the subject matter should be something that really interests you because you will be devoting a good chunk of your life to making it. Kubrick always chose these huge topics to delve into and this makes his films ones that I keep coming back to. Aronofsky really makes me wonder in the subject matter he wants to tackle. His one-two punch of Noah and Mother! really made me think about his work and his approach, as they both sort of tackle similar subject matter he must have been focused on, and that kind of ties into Pi and even The Fountain a bit.

Happy Fraser got some acclaim for this and I will get to it, I think I just have to be in the right mood for it.

 

[Tino]

Did Anne Bancroft slap a fat suit on Don Knotts when she made Fatso? No she hired Dom Deluise.

Just curious. Have you actually seen The Whale?

 

[Tino]

I have not seen this yet because I just can't make up my mind about Aronofsky.

I also had little desire to see The Whale and missed it in theaters after a few unsuccessful attempts to go.

I watched it the day before the Oscar’s and was blown away. I was captivated from beginning to end and when it was over I was a blubbering mess.

I don’t recall a film affecting me so deeply in years. Fraser’s performance is a master class in acting….fatsuit and all. It’s tremendously powerful.

As I said previously, it’s my favorite film of last year.

 

[JohnRice]

I believe that with some movies, it's almost impossible for certain individuals to see it clearly. It prompts such a visceral reaction that we are completely blinded to what it might actually be. For me, Whiplash is an example of that. When I first saw it, I swear I wanted to kick in the TV. I recently watched it again. I still don't like it, but giving it a second watch was cathartic, giving me an opportunity to understand why I had such a reaction to it the first time.

Also, Aronovsky is definitely not for everyone. I find something of value in every one of his movies, but I can't say any of them is a pleasant experience.

 

[SD_Brian]

Video: 2.5/5​

3D Rating: NA​

Per IMDB The Whale was shot on Sony CineAlta Venice with Angenieux Optimo Prime Lenses. It had a 4k master and 6k intermediate. It then had a dreary color timing and grain applied throughout and was chopped to 1.33:1.

/boggle

I haven't seen the disc, but what you're describing sounds like it's faithful to how the movie looked and sounded theatrically, and to the director's intent, as opposed to any shortcoming with the Blu-ray.

 

[Tino]

I haven't seen the disc, but what you're describing sounds like it's faithful to how the movie looked and sounded theatrically, and to the director's intent, as opposed to any shortcoming with the Blu-ray.

Exactly. And that look certainly enhanced the mood of this terrific powerful film.

 

[SD_Brian]

Couldn’t they find a fat actor to play this role?

I'm no casting director, but I suspect the list of bankable 600-pound actors is a pretty short list. Given the physical demands of the role, even if they could find a size-appropriate actor, the production would likely have had a very hard time getting insurance. Even if they had found a 600-pound actor, gotten insurance and made the movie, those accusing the existing movie of "fat shaming" would be accusing this hypothetical version of exploiting that 600-pound actor.

The only way to "win" would have been to not make the movie at all.

 

[Dick]

Did Anne Bancroft slap a fat suit on Don Knotts when she made Fatso? No she hired Dom Deluise.

They didn't have good enough fat suits back then, or she might well have.

 

[SD_Brian]

300-pound-plus actors Dom DeLuise, Marlon Brando, and Orson Welles would all have had to wear fat suits in order to play Charlie.

 

[Noel Aguirre]

300-pound-plus actors Dom DeLuise, Marlon Brando, and Orson Welles would all have had to wear fat suits in order to play Charlie.

Did the actress in What's Eating Gilbert Grape need a fat suit?

 

[SD_Brian]

Did the actress in What's Eating Gilbert Grape need a fat suit?

No, but Darlene Cates was "only" 500 pounds when she appeared in Gilbert Grape, and lost 250 pounds before she died in 2017, so would have needed some additional padding in order to play 600-pound Charlie.

 

[jayembee]

The 1.33 aspect ratio was done for a reason, to give the feeling of being closed in. I liked that.

As was another A24 film: Robert Eggers' The Lighthouse, which was framed at 1.19:1.