Tears were falling even before the last few frames of “The Whale” were shown.
Some were seen openly blubbering.
We were mildly surprised to see how so many Pinoys actually relate to Charlie, the central character of the film, who is basically American, fat, balding, reclusive, depressed.
Then again, not a few were also grumbling.
A friend said: “It’s not enough that they actually made him obese. They made him gay too. Talk about being stabbed twice. It reeks of gay phobia and fat phobia.”
He may be over-analyzing it a tad.
We didn’t feel like it painted Charlie in a bad light. Not for being gay or for being fat.
We simply saw a man who has seemingly lost all hope.
A man who is simply hanging on to assure himself that at the very least he did one thing right in his life.
In a nutshell, “The Whale” is about a basic human impulse: To be cared for.
And there’s no shame in that.
It’s a surprise to us though that Darren Aronofsky personally picked Brendan Fraser to play Charlie.
The actor, identified for his leading man roles in “George Of The Jungle,” “The Mummy,” among others, is not really what one might consider a gifted thespian.
Not in hindsight at least.
That he was in a decades-long hiatus prior only added to our doubt.
But as Darren explained to Variety, he saw a “haunted, vulnerable quality to the man” that made him perfect for the role.
He added, “Brendan was beloved, but he just didn’t have that opportunity to show all these sides. It’s about getting the right role in the right moment as an actor.”
We saw that. Critics did too.
The film, as with Brendan, has earned multiple nominations from respected award-giving bodies including the Academy Awards, the British Film Academy Awards, the Screen Actors Guild Awards, Golden Globe Awards, etc.
Distributed here by TBA Studios, “The Whale,” which also stars Sadie Sink and Hong Chau, is based on the acclaimed play by Samuel D. Hunter.
Produced by A24, the film also features Matthew Libatique, an award-winning Pinoy cinematographer.
