The Oscar for Best Actor "Whale" recently released resources on the Internet, and Poison Jun watched it for the first time to introduce you to this superior work.
"Whale" is adapted from the stage play of the same name, telling the story of the middle-aged protagonist Charlie (played by Brandon Fisher), who came out of the closet and abandoned his wife and daughter, because of the sudden death of his partner, causing him to suffer from severe bulimia disorder, and because of years of weight control, he was on the verge of death physically and mentally, but after his daughter Ellie (played by Sadie Zinke), who had not been seen for many years, appeared, Charlie was determined to face the mistakes he had forged back then, and expressed his final apologies and encouragement to his daughter.
Brandon Fisher, who once swept the film industry with the "Legend of Gods and Ghosts" series of movies, suffered marital discord, surgery and sexual harassment one after another, fell into a career doldrum, and has not seen a new work for many years, but this time he returned strongly with the role of binge eating disorder, not only got rid of his handsome appearance in the past, wore a special costume weighing 171 kilograms, interpreted a middle-aged man full of pain and optimism, infected countless audiences with profound and moving acting skills, and won the 2023 Oscar for Best Actor.
empathy
Charlie, played by Brandon Fisher, is a writing lecturer who is depressed after the death of his same-sex lover Allen, while suffering from the deep guilt of abandoning his family in the past.
As a psychological defense mechanism, he suffered from an eating disorder and ate himself into an obese patient weighing 272 kilograms, putting his life at risk at any time. After a heart attack, Charlie decided to marry his daughter Ellie (Satie), whom he had not seen for nine years. Zinke as Contact, trying to mend the father-daughter relationship.
Having experienced a personal life trough makes Brandon Fisher's role as Charlie more convincing. The whale in the title is the emotionless fierce beast in the classic masterpiece "Moby Dick" throughout the film, Charlie who is as eye-catching as a behemoth, and a huge trauma that is difficult to ignore in life.
The regret of losing his beloved and the guilt of turning his back on his wife and daughter are like the prison that imprisoned Charlie, making him choose to use food as a means of chronic suicide.
The film focuses on the last week of Charlie's life, and we see him suffering from intractable heart disease in addition to the inconveniences, discrimination and health problems he needs to face due to obesity. A life tormented by body, mind and soul is so painful that it is unbearable to look at.
Although the world occasionally reveals kindness to Charlie, and the next second it may be cruelly withdrawn, he always sees the beauty of life and the goodness of human nature with those clear blue eyes.
Beyond the pain of life, "Whale" talks about human empathy, which is the bond and care that people have between people, regardless of appearance, background or belief.
In the film, Thomas, a young missionary who once saved Charlie when he had a heart attack, although he knew his comradeship and was driven away many times by Charlie's friend Liz (played by Zhou Hong), still hoped to help him in his last days.
Charlie's daughter Ellie, although full of anger and unable to forgive her father's past mistakes, continues to return to Charlie's apartment to accompany her.
And Liz, in addition to being Charlie's best friend and the sister of his late lover, deeply understands that it is difficult for him to escape the pain in his heart in this life, even if he is reluctant to hurt himself through gluttony, he still comes with his favorite food every time to quietly accompany him in his last days.
Care and compassion
Darren Yaronovsky, who is good at depicting the darkness of human nature, has a deep portrayal of the multiple forms of human beings, and the expression is sometimes abstract and difficult to understand.
Although this film is uncomfortable, for the middle-aged comrades who have made a series of mistakes and want to repent, it shows you a bloody health condition, which makes people heartache and helplessness, and resents Charlie's willfulness and self-destruction, but it ends brightly in the end, gets rid of the tragedy of life, and obtains a little redemption, making people wet their eyes and have the power to live.
If it were just to watch the dying man say some nonsense, this film would not be so moving. Look at the helplessness of caring for Charlie as hard as she can, and I believe that as the main caregiver, I will feel very touched.
It must be said that Zhou Hong, who plays Liz, has an eye-catching performance, she plays the pain of the Swallowing family being discorded due to faith and her brother's death, and she is full of thorns, and she is even more ruthless when she meets the missionary Thomas who comes to the door, but in several diagnoses and saves Charlie, it is revealed that people cannot but care about others. And her petite body contains a force that cannot be ignored, in contrast to the male protagonist's huge but increasingly fragile body.
In addition, Saty Zink, who performed well in "Stranger Things", played Charlie's rebellious daughter, and the ghostly performance diluted the heaviness of the film. And Samantha Morton, who played Charlie's ex-wife, did not have much time to show her face, but she played an abandoned wife and worried about being criticized for not taking good care of her daughter, which is reluctant.
The story has too many family love-hate entanglements, and even the discussion of faith and helping others, which is worth the audience to savor, so I will not repeat them all here, leaving them for everyone to enjoy.
Friends who have seen the movie will definitely be impressed by the protagonist's aura!