Whalefall
Whalefall
Starring Austin Abrams, Josh Brolin, Elisabeth Shue, John Ortiz
Directed by Brian Duffield
Jay Gardiner (Austin Abrams) was never close to his seafaring father Mitt (Josh Brolin), who always seemed to insult Jay and treat him harshly, especially compared to his two daughters. This causes Jay to resent and hate his father, leading him from his home in California to Idaho for school. However, after his father comes down with an incurable disease, instead of enduring it he ties weights to his legs and jumps into the ocean.
One year later Jay returns home, and to give closure to his mother Zara (Elisabeth Shue), he decides to utilize his scuba diving knowledge and find his father's body in the ocean. However, soon after diving, he's caught up by a squid trying to get away from a giant sperm whale, and both the squid and Jay are sucked into the whale's stomach. Trapped with only an hour of oxygen remaining, Jay must find a way to get out of the whale and back home before all hope is lost.
When I first saw the trailer for "Whalefall" I really wasn't impressed, as it was an overly long scene of him getting sucked into the whale, and that was about it. It did nothing to entice me or make me want to see it, and the title had me mocking it by crafting a song akin to Adele's "Skyfall." So when it came out I had little to no expectations, and that might've been the film's saving grace for me - because I actually found it very riveting, exciting, suspenseful, and emotional with great practical effects, production designs, performances, cinematography and sound design. Not to mention the story hit close to home since I was never close to my father either, and Mitt acted the same way he did when he was alive.
Austin Abrams has had a terrific two years in cinema, starring in back-to-back Zach Cregger hits "Weapons" and "Resident Evil," and now he finds himself trapped in the literal belly of the beast. He doesn't have a lot to work with when he's alone, apart from his physicality, but we get flashbacks of scenes with his father that show how far apart they were from one another. Still, he pulls off a tremendous performance that couldn't have been easy, and you really feel for him during these times, as well as put yourself in his shoes with the impossible task of making it out of the whale alive.
Josh Brolin also gives a great performance as the gruff Mitt, who essentially plays every father figure in movies: the rough, no-nonsense man who can't show his emotions, but is always hardest on the one he loves the most. The back-and-forth between Brolin and Abrams is palpable and realistic, and you see why Jay has issues with him.
Production designer Ramsey Avery uses the singular setting of the whale's stomach creatively, making it cavernous and expansive, like a breathing, sentient cavern. For the claustrophobic, this is pure nightmare fuel, and Avery gives you that sense throughout. Cinematographer Aaron Morton frames Jay as though his surroundings are assaulting him, giving him nary a moment's peace. In the whale he's attacked by the squid, then by pieces of the squid, then the whale itself, and basically anything else you can throw at. It amps up the suspense from the moment he's sucked in to the end, and it's captivating in ways I wasn't expecting.
While in the whale Jay uses the advice Mitt gave him to make it out, but also during that time he reminisces about his father and the way he treated him, which is where Jay becomes an archtype of Jonah. Both men ran away from their responsibilities - Jonah from God's plan, and Jay from his father's desire - and both end up in the belly of a great fish. While there they both repent of their past deeds, with Jay realizing his father was looking out for his best interest the whole time, leading to an emotional moment where Jay speaks to his father and acts like the whale is him, which at first could come off as corny but seeing how emotionally spent Jay is, it makes a lot of sense.
The movie also hits on grief and how it's dealt with, and the fact that it never really goes away. It's been a year since he died, but now Jay wants to find his remains in the ocean, which, logically, doesn't make a lot of sense. The animals of the deep would've already disposed of any skin, organs, or clothing Mitt had at the time, and the best he could've found was his skeleton, which even then would be like finding a needle in an ocean. Still, he does it because this is his grieving process, even though he doesn't realize it. Much like that, when he treats the whale like his father, it's another way for him to cope about the events of what happened, even if it's nonsensical.
Going into "Whalefall" I wasn't expecting much, and maybe that's why I enjoyed it - it's a harrowing tale of survival against all odds, coming to terms with your grief, and all wrapped in excellent set designs and performances.
The Score: A
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