Brendan Fraser deserves the Oscar. Anyone who has seen The whale It is clear to him and those who go to theaters as of this Friday, January 27, the day it opens in Spanish theaters, will probably also agree. The actor does a huge job in the new film by American filmmaker Darren Aronofskydirector of films as fascinating as Pi, faith on chaos (1998), Requiem for a Dream (2000) or Black Swan (2010). With these indications, a priori nothing can go wrong.
Fraser, born in Indianapolis (United States) in 1968, here faces what has probably been the most difficult performance of his career, which began in 1991 with a role in the film the last bet, starring the late River Phoenix. From then on, she gained prominence in the field of comedy (the california man1992; Empty-head, 1994; either George of the junglein 1997, to name a few) until the highest grossing role of his career came: that of Rick O’Connell in The Mummy (1999)a film that grossed more than 400 million dollars and that gave way to a trilogy.
What happened next? Her career gradually lost its shine without receiving the support of the public and critics. Around the same time, Brendan Fraser lived an unpleasant situation that he confessed just five years agoand that affected him psychologically: Philip Berk, former president and member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, groped him during a luncheon that took place at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2003, a situation that caused him psychological damage – and for the who did not attend the recent Golden Globes ceremony-, to which several physical injuries were added during some filming.
For all these reasons, the rebirth of the actor at the hands of, neither more nor less, than Aronofsky was quite an event in the last edition of the venice festival. And she did not disappoint. The audience rose to its feet, the applause lasted for minutes and even the interpreter shed tears.
The whale is a psychological drama in which Brendan Fraser plays Charlie, a literature professor who lives locked up in his house, barely able to move from the sofa, where remains cloistered due to its 272 kilos of weight. His heart is in danger, but the anxiety caused by his grief leads him to compulsively eat all kinds of unhealthy foods. As she approaches an inevitable end, she tries to reconnect with her 17-year-old daughter, from whom she was separated when she became romantically involved with a man whose death she has not gotten over.
The film loses the opportunity to flee from the obvious and hackneyed symbols in its search to address themes such as empathy, inner beauty or redemption.
This film is a portrait of the fatal consequences of morbid obesity, and for this reason it does not avoid showing the most grotesque facet of the disease and the most self-injurious attitude of the protagonist, as well as the sadness and pain with which he survives. Charlie’s character lives with excessively strong pain that has led him to live secluded from almost all of his loved ones, and even from his students, from whom he hides through the classes on-line that imparts
Aronofsky is a lover of closed spaces, of physical and mental claustrophobia, and he shows it again in this film, which is based on the play of the same name by Samuel D. Hunterwho also signs the script for its adaptation to the cinema, and that is where perhaps some of the greatest shortcomings of this film can be found, which loses the opportunity to flee from the obvious and hackneyed symbols in its search to address issues such as the empathy, inner beauty or redemption.
Brendan Fraser, colossal
The whale It’s a moving film, but for this editor of Vozpopuli falls into excess, melodrama and sentimentality. It reaches the climax too soon and tries to settle throughout the film with tools such as music, with which the emotion is accentuated in such a way that it only provides cheesy and tragic brushstrokes typical of the worst telefilm. The colour, effects and some of the conversation is gimmicky, and it feels like a missed opportunity for Darren Aronofsky, looking for intensity where one might not expect it.
The only conclusion that everyone comes to after watching this movie is that Brendan Fraser deserves an Oscar for this role. The reasons may not be the same for everyone. Some will think that he does the best work of his career, up there with the great roles of this year, while others will think that the efforts to raise his work are daunting compared to the script.
Not surprisingly, the actor must walk with a prosthesis of more than 20 kilos and with excessive makeup that prevents her from moving freely. Unknowingly, her role, for which she will clearly win the statuette, is the lifeline of this story, full of good intentions, too keen to be humanist and too close to emotional pornography.
