Out this week in Irish cinemas is Whalefall: a lone scuba diver finds himself food for a whale and has to face the horrors of the deep as well as his turbulent relationship with his deceased father.
Whalefall is a fascinating film. Many will come for the bizarre premise: the concept of a man being eaten by a whale and him trying to escape its clutches. And the film delivers on that concept in spades. Jay is frantically trying to escape the bowels of this underwater beast, and the various trials he has to face are harrowing. Full of body horror as well as claustrophobic elements thanks to a fascinating set design, there is a lot to take in while watching Whalefall.
There are several scenes that just captured my imagination; a particular scene in the third act goes into a strange, dreamlike journey that I absolutely adored. This brings me to my favourite element of the film, the dynamic between father and son. Jay has intense feelings about his father, and the legacy he has left him. The film dives deep into these themes, and it’s highly evocative, likely to make many fathers and sons ask questions about their own relationship.
Much like Abrams’ other recent film, Resident Evil, Whalefall relies heavily on Abrams as the singular figure in the majority of the film. And once again Abrams rises to the challenge. I was with him every step of the way as he tried to best this monster. I wasn’t the only one either. The film elicited a lot of visceral emotions from the audience I was with. There were shocks and gasps aplenty as Jay fell further and further into the depths of despair.
You’ve soft lungs
Abrams delivers an emotional performance as Jay, one that will hit home with a lot of people. He has a lot of baggage coming into this film, and it weighs him down. This whale is a kind of baptism of fire, and I found myself questioning many times: was he going to make it out of this? Brolin, who is his scene partner in a lot of Whalefall, is also brilliant; he’s an old man trying his best and failing, and it is an eerily familiar dynamic.
Whalefall also looks gorgeous, from the sumptuous visuals of the interior of the whale, which give off an excellent visual message in each compartment of the seafaring creature, to the ethereal beauty of the depths of the ocean. There is a lot of beauty to this beast.
Whalefall will have you squirming in your seat for a lot of it, but if you’re like me, you’ll also add a few tears to this eerie and evocative ocean.
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