Brendan Fraser’s performance in The Whale has been as widely heralded as any in memory. Thirty-one years after Encino Man, Fraser has received endless plaudits and is nominated for an Oscar for best actor, the winner to be announced next month. In director Darren Aronofsky’s film, Fraser stars as Charlie, an elephantine — or cetacean, if you prefer — English professor who spends his days wolfing down whatever food is available or can be delivered to his shabby, inadequately lit apartment. His consumption is interrupted by periodic health scares (at one point, he is said to have a blood pressure reading of 238 over 134), bickering with a visiting nurse (Hong Chau), discussing the meaning of life with a purported Christian missionary (Ty Simpkins), and explaining, to his daughter (Sadie Sink), that he remains a caring father despite having abandoned his family to set up house with a man, now deceased.
