From director Darren Aronofsky comes “The Whale,” an A24 film flooded with emotion, based on the play first written by Samuel D. Hunter, which debuted onstage back in 2012. The film is adapted from Hunter’s script, set in 2017, and follows a 600-lb. self-isolating English teacher (Brendan Fraser) who still believes in optimism and the good for which his daughter Elli (Sadie Sink) is destined.
The character study of Charlie, the instructor for online college classes cuts straight to the core, shedding layers of humanity and revealing the tricky dynamics between Fraser’s character, that of Sink’s and many more.