MOVIE REVIEWS

THE WHALE (M)

BY ALEX FIRST

The Whale is the film that excites me more than any other since lockdown.

While the story itself is remarkable, it is the acting that has me champing at the bit to recommend it.

It is all set in a small, rundown, first floor apartment in Idaho.

Charlie (Brendan Fraser) is morbidly obese. His blood pressure is off the charts and he is suffering from congestive heart failure.

He can hardly move and barely gets by with the aid of a Zimmer Frame.

Middle aged, he lives alone in the apartment he never leaves.

He gorges himself. He orders his food in and that means lots of carbs and sugar, including daily pizzas.

Charlie is an online university English teacher who encourages his students to be bold and express their honest feelings in writing. One day, out of the blue, he is visited by a young Christian missionary, Thomas (Ty Simpkins), who arrives just as Charlie is having a severe medical episode.

But he point blank refuses to go to hospital (he claims it is because he has no health insurance).

Rather, he relies upon daily visits from a nurse friend, Liz (Hong Chau).

She and Charlie both recognise that the end is near for him. Notwithstanding her frustration at his intransigence in seeking appropriate medical attention she does what she can to help.

Liz is also frustrated by the arrival of the bible basher. During the course of the movie, we find out why.