MOVIE REVIEW – Brendan Fraser’s return to the role is the most unexpected and transformative for the actor. Not only because he plays a 600-pound man who can’t leave his small rural Idaho home in The Whale, but also because of his amazing tenderness and kindness as he tries to “tame” his estranged daughter again in the film.

Fraser plays a very different role now than he did earlier in his career. In his heyday, in the nineties and eighties, when he starred in the films “The Mummy”, “Monkey Bone” and “George of the Jungle”, the 53-year-old actor was a real star in cool comedy/action star roles and had a huge energy. He sprinted, screamed, yelled, jumped, or fought the Rock in The Scorpion King.

He was a loner and a loner

But in The Whale, superbly directed by Darren Aronofsky, Charlie is quiet, brooding and lonely. And intensely moving. Almost tied to the couch, he makes a living teaching an online essay-writing course, with his laptop camera turned off so no one can see his face and body. He tells the pizza delivery guy to leave the box outside the door. She lives in constant shame. Fraser’s eyes always seem to have a bitter twinkle in them.

Charlie has gone into hiding, gaining weight after the untimely death of his younger partner Alan. His ex-wife Mary (Samantha Morton) and daughter Ellie (Sadie Sink) want nothing to do with him because he has left them for his new husband. Now Charlie is all alone, except for a missionary visitor (Ty Simpkins) who urges him to find God and a nurse friend named Liz (Hong Chau) who takes care of him and pleads fruitlessly with the stubborn guy to go to the hospital. She tells Charlie he has only a week to live.

“The whale’s” childlike introspection

A lovely old quality that Fraser hasn’t abandoned at all is the almost childlike sense of wonder that we’ve seen from him since his first films. As a grown-up action star, his characters had the wide-eyed look of children making exciting new discoveries. Charlie has the same sparkle when he talks about his teenage daughter Ellie (Sadie Sink), who hates him and with whom he is desperately trying to reconnect while he is still alive. In these sweet attempts at a meaningful relationship, the actor does the finest work of his long career.

There are plenty of reasons why this film might not work. It is based on an excellent play by Samuel D. Hunter (who is also the screenwriter), and this kind of staged, heightened material often fails on screen, as another similar stage adaptation, Alleluia, was a big flop. And I suspect some outraged viewers will call Charlie – and Fraser’s casting – the exploitation of overweight people. This is not the case. The whale is fundamentally about grief and the search for love.

Still, be warned that the sight may be shocking to some. There are some tough, visceral scenes, – similar to when Natalie Portman’s toenails started to fall off in Black Swan, Aronofsky’s other film.

Heavy subject matter, professional execution

But the director and Fraser take on heavy subject matter, and their treatment has a deep, poignant message that stays with you long after you leave the cinema. We never leave the small home, but Aronofsky remains ever-changing, mysterious, big and cinematic, yet never overwhelming. And while Hunter’s writing is better suited to the stage (his play A Case for God’s Existence was the best play of last season), the director thrives on such excess and style. It never seems dishonest.

Rob Simonsen’s foghorn-like music evoking a sea storm (Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick” plays an important role in the film) also raises the stakes.

A real testament to Fraser’s professionalism is that what could be made into a joke, or a clichéd flat tragedy, or even a lecture on obesity, is invested with a beautiful humanity. His Charlie is a deeply relatable character who reminds us how a single day can change the course of our lives so significantly. It’s a testament to the storytelling that a character so different from the majority of moviegoers can make us think so powerfully about our own lives.

-BadSector-