The Whale (2022)

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...

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 le...

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,...

I doubt I can add much more to what has already been said about <em>'The Whale'</em>, 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 <em>'<a href=&q...

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