How to Watch The Whale
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Any time you sit down to watch a Darren Aronofksy movie, you know that you're about to go through it emotionally. From his profoundly bleak exploration of drug addiction in Requiem For A Dream to the psychological horror of Black Swan, he's become known as a master of surreal and disturbing cinema that often proves polarizing. His latest film, The Whale, is no exception.
Brendan Fraser stars as Charlie, a reclusive, obese professor whose main form of contact with the outside world is the online classes he teaches with his webcam off. The film centers on his attempts to reconnect with his estranged daughter, Ellie (Stranger Things's Sadie Sink) amidst a health crisis.
Since its debut at the Venice Film Festival in September, The Whale has drawn both acclaim and controversy. Critics and awards bodies were united in their praise for Fraser's performance, which ultimately led him to taking home the Best Actor trophy at this year's Oscars. But many commentators have also criticized the decision to cast Fraser (who wore a prosthetic fat suit) in the role, rather than an obese actor.
"Actors have been using makeup since the beginning of acting—that's one of their tools," Aronofsky told Yahoo! Entertainment in response to a question about that criticism. "The lengths we went to to portray the realism of the make-up has never been done before... People with obesity are generally written as bad guys or as punchlines. We wanted to create a fully worked-out character who has bad parts about him and good parts about him; Charlie is very selfish, but he's also full of love and is seeking forgiveness. So [the controversy] makes no sense to me. Brendan Fraser is the right actor to play this role, and the film is an exercise in empathy."
Fraser won a Screen Actors Guild award for his performance, giving him momentum ahead of the Oscars. In his acceptance speech, he said, "I will treasure this, but never more than what I treasured, that I used to keep in my wallet, which was my SAG card that I earned in 1991. It made me feel like I belonged. We're actors; we all want to belong a tribe. If you told that guy back then I'd be standing here right now, I wouldn't have believed you."
So if you want to see The Whale after this year's Oscars, here's how.
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