whale fall
Director: Brian Duffield
Mould: Austin Abrams, Josh Brolin, Elisabeth Shue, John Ortiz, Jane Levy, Emily Rudd
Rating: ★★★★
You don’t go to the theater to see a movie about a man being swallowed whole by a whale expecting it to be something other than a survival thriller or maybe if you’re lucky a coming-of-age drama. Well, then the color surprised me. Because I wasn’t aware of how whalefall would affect me. Daniel Cross’s novel was much more than that, bringing a story of survival into the story of one boy’s efforts to connect with his father. And the adaptation of Brian Duffield’s book is that, and much more. With stunning visuals, some great performances and amazing camera work, Whalefall is this fall’s genre-bending wonder that reminds you what cinema can really achieve.
plot
Jay Gardiner is a teenager trying to cope with the death of his estranged father Mitt, who committed suicide by jumping into the ocean to escape death from cancer. Even though Jay never got along with his overbearing father, he is troubled by the fact that Mitt’s remains were never found. So, he decides to commit one final act of rebellion against his dead father, and dives under the sea to find his remains. But he has been swallowed by a sperm whale, and now the only way to survive is to remember everything that Mitt – a local diving legend – has taught him over the years.
a technological marvel
Whalefall takes you inside the belly of a sperm whale, a space that is constricting not only in the physical sense but also because of the mental fear it instills in the protagonist. The claustrophobia that Brian Duffield is able to generate in the scenes set in the ‘interior’ of the whale sets the film up quite well. We feel Jai’s fear, frustration and helplessness through the visuals and music alone, even when he isn’t saying much. Full marks to Aaron Morton’s cinematography and Joseph Trapanese’s score for bringing this intriguing vision to life. Morton’s use of the fisheye lens to turn the subject almost inwards into the screen is also a choice that deserves praise. All this creates an urgent environment.
But whalefalls are just as spectacular when things are ‘outside’. Some of the scenes of the whale landing and diving to the surface are spectacular, really showing you the scale of the challenge facing Jay as the film shows you the size of the animal. Equally brilliant is how the film depicts the darkness of the ocean. One particular sequence of a whale swimming in the depths of the ocean features some of the best footage seen on screen since Project Hail Mary earlier this year.
And it’s all heightened by the sound design, where you ‘feel’ every scream of the whale’s entrails, every crack of the jay’s bone, and every guttural scream out of nowhere. The whalefall is relentless, but in a good way.
great performance
Austin Abrams is the star of the show, occasionally mesmerizing the audience with his growls and screams. His penchant for humor and comic timing in difficult times is supreme. For the second time this year, the young actor has found himself in a race against time in a survival thriller, and for the second time, he has emerged the winner, both figuratively and literally.
Josh Brolin is effortless as Mitt. He embodies the ‘tough guy’ drama of a father afraid of his son failing, and also of a sick man who is helplessly afraid of dying. The veteran actor is a perfect fit for Austin with his restrained but remarkable performance.
A surprising genre mash-up
But what really sets the film apart from being just another survival thriller is how it combines the story of Jay and Mitt’s relationship and separation with the central escapism. Every mishap that occurs in Jay’s Jonah Arc makes him realize something about his father and how he was trying to raise him. Whalefall never makes any excuses for Mitt and his overbearing ways, but it shows that you can forgive your loved ones and yourself if you simply understand their story.
The path Whalefall takes to this resolution is a bold one. The climax is something that is not possible for everyone, so it is experimental and new. But it does one thing well, closing out Jai’s arc in the only possible way.