Brendan Fraser in "The Whale" is almost unrecognizable!

Brendan Fraser was left without a Golden Globe even though many predicted that he was a sure winner. When you see him in photos - and maybe also in the film if you had the opportunity to watch you can hardly recognize him, because in "The Whale" he seems to have several tens of kilograms more. However, his sudden obesity was created with the help of computer effects. Maybe that's the reason he missed out on the award.

"The Whale" will intrigue the audience not only because of Fraser, who we have not seen before, but also because it is Aronofsky's first film after five or six years, and we almost forgot that in 2017 he made "Mother!" with Jennifer Lawrence. In any case, it was a long time ago, the film met with a divided court, but this often followed the director throughout his career. 

He shot the first film "Pi" for 150,000 dollars but earned a little more than three million, which is just incredible, especially since the viewer could not easily get through this unusual SF. It was followed by "Requiem for Dreams" based on Hubert Selby Jr.'s novel, which cost much more and didn't really make much of a profit, but veteran Ellen Burstyn was deservedly awarded an Oscar for her supporting role.

The protagonist of the film is the English teacher Charlie, who has gained a lot of weight (of course, when he eats pizza excessively), and he gives lectures at the university online, only turning off the camera so that no one would see what he looks like. Charlie has a rather bizarre private life, he was once married, and had a daughter, but left his family for a man he fell in love with. In the meantime, that man committed suicide, considering that the relationship he voluntarily entered into was a sin, and his sister Liz (Hong Chau) takes care of Charlie and warns him that if he continues with the pizzas, his heart will suffer. Thomas (Ty Simpkins), a priest of the Church of the New Life, also hangs around him and tries to convert him to his religion, which annoys Liz, who thinks that the professor doesn't need any religion, but a more orderly way of life.

After eight years, the hero would like to renew contact with his daughter Ellie (Sadie Sink), and he is ready to leave her all his savings if she accepts him as a father again, but the girl has other plans. She will be happy to start seeing Charlie again if he helps her rewrite the essay that he writes for school. They both agree that the mother Mary (Samantha Morton) must not find out that the two are communicating again, but plans are one thing, and reality is another.