top of page
cinetopaz

WHY WATCH 'THE WHALE'? by Frederic Redfern 10.31.24

Updated: 5 days ago

It's been beached on your list for a year and a half. It's critically acclaimed. It won Oscars. But you never got around to watching it.

 

Why?

 

Because it's sad. It's morbid(ly obese). You can't stomach it. You know if you lay on the couch with popcorn and click you'll end up feeling like him -

 

The whale. A creature of disproportionate symbolism and Hemingway notoriety.

 

Fuck Hemingway. That's not really what this film is about. Go watch it. Here's four reasons (and a half-ass fifth) why you should:

 

REASON 1: A good director is like a good chef. It's a relationship based on consistency and trust. When you sit down and order you know what you're gonna get. Aronofsky is just that - King Midas in a toque. That's kitchen slang for hat. He's one in a handful of the last auteurs left (Nolan, Cuarón, Lynch - whose chronic illness may soon remove him from the list). Aronofsky could get a toilet seat greenlit and make it shine brighter than the 18 karat one offered to Trump. Every movie this man touches turns to gold - Black Swan, The Wrestler, The Fountain. And if you haven't seen Postcard from Earth at the Sphere - do yourself a favor and start driving to Vegas.


REASON 2: The acting. Ripley's believe it or not - it's that good. Fraser like you've never seen him before. We're not talking George of the Jungle or Rick from the Mummy. Swipe right on a soul that's come full circle. That's long been expelled from the garden of Barbara Eden and in a beautiful Nietzschean cycle returned from the dark with the spoils - wisdom from the other side. Someone you'll barely recognize. Someone whose toil and strife and talent shines through that fucking fat suit and straight onto the Dolby stage for an award.


-REASON 3: It's free on several platforms. For now. Contracts change constantly nowadays so by the time you read this (or don't) it might not be. I'd still cough up the $2.99 and happily sit my fat ass through the ads.


REASON 4: It's not actually that sad. There's a hope to it. The whole thing takes place in one set - an apartment - which sounds pretty dismal. But you don't even notice. A great sideshow of characters comes in and out all along, bringing levity and fresh air to the sediment and adipose. Reminding us that inside us all is a whale, one that was harpooned in March 2020 and is still dying to get back out there for a swim.


REASON 4.5: Don't pretend like you have important things to do. What's more important than art? This is high art - the kind that reveals society to itself. Go. Watch it. Whale, what are you waiting for?



24 views0 comments

Comments


bottom of page