The Whale (2022)

Brendan Fraser has earned his Oscar nomination (and more) with his heartbreaking portrayal of Charlie, an online English professor dying of the effects of morbid obesity and trying to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter. Hong Chau is also Oscar-nominated for playing Charlie's friend Liz. Sadie Sink is the angry daughter Ellie, Ty Simpkins a visitor, and Samantha Morton Charlie's ex-wife/Ellie's mother. Sink's little sister Jacey Sink plays Ellie as a younger girl.

Darren Aronofsky directs from the script by Samuel D. Hunter, based on Hunter's 2012 stage play of the same name. The title refers not only to Charlie's size but also to his obsession with Moby Dick.

Rob Simonsen's ethereal score can be streamed on Apple Music.

Makeup and hairstyling's department heads Judy Chin and Annemarie Bradley-Sherron, respectively, earned the movie's third Oscar nomination, although there's quite a bit of artful CGI (computer generated images) to add to Fraser's prosthetics. Last weekend Saturday Night Live did a silly sketch about an actor (Woody Harrelson) not realizing he could wear a fat suit for a similar movie.

Chau was last blogged for Downsizing, Morton for Decoding Annie Parker, Aronofsky for Noah, and Simonsen for The Way Back. Sadie Sink was in Glass Castle and more. I've seen some of the movies Simpkins has been in, such as Little Children (2006), Revolutionary Road, Jurassic World, and The Nice Guys, but don't remember him. Jacey Sink has had one other credit, in an episode of Stranger Things, in which her sister acted in 27 episodes.

Chin's long resume includes department head on Synechdoche, New York, Noah, Birdman, The Post, Little Women, and West Side Story, and Bradley headed the hair styling departments for The Family Fang, A Quiet Place, Let Them All Talk, and more.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are but nibbling, averaging a scant 65%, but its audiences, at 91, are eating it up. Eager to see it ASAP, we bought it on Apple TV on February 21, but you can rent it beginning March 14.