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Rating of
3/4
People are amazing
Matthew Brady - wrote on 04/16/2023
"Do you ever get the feeling that people are incapable of not caring?"
The Whale is a movie that evoked mixed reactions from people. Some saw it as beautiful and tragic, while others saw it as an offensive, cruel film. Even praising any merits of the movie can be controversial.
On the other hand, I liked the film and connected to it. Not an easy watch but with a subject matter like this would not be. With a film marker like Darren, he approaches his movie's themes with discomfort, almost like the message is punching you in the face. Not that it's beating you over the head with it, but how it is delivered feels like a rock-hard whiplash.
Although it can feel stagy as it takes place in one setting in an apartment, and yet, everything feels real and raw. There's so much hurt …
Rating of
1.5/4
A Fridge Too Far
SIngli6 - wrote on 02/07/2023
Darren Aronofsky has always trafficked in extreme scenarios and grotesque images to convey either addiction or obsession, depending on the film. His scripts would be comic in how OTP they are if they weren't bolstered by flourishes of hyper-intense editing, sound design, score, and photography. I know this because The Whale lacks many of those flourishes until its final act, where they arrive with all the enthusiasm of a student late for a (video) lecture. That's not a slight against the look and sound of the film; it's fine. It's Aronofsky at his most impartial, which makes the extremely repulsive dramatic beats of the film - including but not limited to heart attack masturbation, Brendan Fraser inhaling pizzas, Brendan Fraser vs gravity, and Sadie Sink being the world's most terrible …
