“Make someone happy,

Make just one someone happy”

- Jimmy Durante

“Make Someone Happy,” written by Betty Comden, Adolph Green, lyrics, and Jule Styne, music, is on the album, “Jimmy Durante’s Way of Life” (1964) from the original Broadway musical, “Do Re Mi” (1960), in which it was sung by John Reardon and Nancy Dussault.

“The Whale” is a profound film.

“The Whale” is a disturbing film.

“The Whale” is a profoundly disturbing film.

Look for several Oscar nominations for “The Whale,” including an actor nomination for Brendan Fraser in what could be the comeback story in cinema for 2022.

The film is much more than a fictional story about a morbidly-obese person, Charlie (Brendan Fraser).

The film references numerous topics, including food addiction, religion, dysfunctional mother-daughter and father-daughter situations, education, and same-sex relationships.

The movie is in the category of what I dub “The Cod Liver Oil of Cinema.” You may not want to take it in, but you know you should.

“The Whale” is one of the most emotionally-jarring and emotionally and intellectually-rewarding films of 2022.

At the center of “The Whale” is the amazing performance of Brendan Fraser. The character he plays, Charlie, is nearly immobilized by his body. Charlie doesn’t eat for nourishment or pleasure. He eats for pain. He is mourning the loss of his partner, Alan.

Charlie lives alone, home-bound, in an apartment. Charlie is cared for by a Liz (Hong Chau), who looks after his vital signs. Liz is the adopted daughter of a minister and his wife. The minister is pastor of an evangelical church, New Life. Alan was Liz’s older stepbrother.

Thomas, a young door-to-door evangelist (Ty Simpkins), visits Charlie and wants to help him with his beliefs. Liz warns Thomas to stay away from Charlie.

Charlie receives an unexpected visit from his daughter, Ellie (Sadie Sink), 17, a high school student who he hasn’t seen since she was eight. Later, Charlie’s ex-wife, Mary (Samantha Morton), stops by.

There are entanglements between the characters in the film, which is based on a 2012 play by Samuel D. Hunter, who wrote the screenplay.

The characters’ lives are revealed in a clever, clear and unvarnished way that unfolds with heightened tension that pulls in the movie-goer with each turn of the plot. By the movie’s conclusion, I would be surprised if you did not get out a handkerchief or a paper tissue to dab at your eyes to soak up a tear or two.

You may wonder where the title, “The Whale,” is derived from. It’s a metaphor for more than the physical size of the film’s main character, Charlie, an adjunct online creative-writing college professor. “The Whale” refers to “Moby Dick” (1851), the classic American novel by Herman Melville.

The inference is, in students essays that Charlie evaluates and especially in the essay of his daughter, Ellie, that we fight outside powers, strike out at those around us or engage in uncivilized behavior to off-load our pain. We subjugate nature, an animal or another human being to make ourselves feel better to avoid dealing with our own mental and spiritual challenges, problems and deficiencies, the screenplay seems to say.

Charlie’s daughter Ellie’s essay, “The Whale,” confronts Melville and one of the greatest works of American literature unsympathetically. It’s a bold move. “The Whale” harpoons one of the greats, with no quarter taken and no apologies given. One wonders how many graduate theses this aspect of the film alone might generate.

Similarly, again through the lens of Ellie’s writing and words, “The Whale” takes on another giant in American literature, that of Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” (1882).

“It’s ‘Song of Myself,’ not ‘Song for Myself,’ Charlie corrects Ellie.

“‘Song for Myself’ is a better title,” Ellie replies to Charlie.

The screenplay seems to imply that Whitman was drawing others, the readers, into his own dilemma, in a sense, projecting his insecurities so as not to have to deal with them.

I realize that I am on shaky ground with my interpretation of what “The Whale” might be saying about two giants of the American canon and literary psyche. It bears further discussion and exploration.

Be that as it may or may not, at the center of “The Whale” is a riveting performance by Brendan Fraser (“The Mummy” series, 2008, 2004, 2001,1999; “School Ties,” 1992 (with opening scenes for the latter filmed on the south and west sides of Wyandotte Street, the former Bethlehem Steel plant and Zion Lutheran Church from the graveyard looking northwest to Fourth Street, all in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and the opening credits scene of a Mobile Station, Chip’s Diner and the Roxy Theatre filmed along Main Street in Northampton, Pennsylvania).

Charlie is confined mostly to a chair. Fraser transmits emotions with facial expressions: a flick of an eyebrow, coy sideways glance, insecure grimace, a wan smile and frequent apologizing (“I’m sorry.”) as if for his existence. Fraser will be nominated for an actor Oscar and, for this reviewer, deserves to win.

As Ellie his daughter, Sadie Sink (TV’s “Stranger Things,” 2017 - 2023) gives better than she gets. Sink assays a complex character and renders her even more complex. She is a cypher, speaking in monosyllabic words cut off at the hatred in her heart and the anger in her mind. Her angular, jarring, shrill performance is one for the ages. Look for a supporting actress Oscar nomination for Sink.

As the nurse, Chau (“The Menu,” 2022) is a sympathetic presence until her hurt is provoked to anger. She has some of the film’s best comedic moments with a mixture of verbal inflections and looks that are priceless. Look for a supporting actress Oscar nomination for Chau.

As the ex-wife, Morton (Oscar nominee, actress, “In America,” 2002; Oscar nominee, supporting actress, “Sweet and Lowdown,” 1999) arrives late in the film but conveys a tragic vulnerability that she attempts to drown with alcohol.

Director Darren Aronofsky (Oscar nomination, director, “The Swan,” 2010; director, “The Wrestler,” 2008; director, “Pi,” 1998) has again created a film of indelible characters, and a film that will be regarded as a classic of its genre. Look for a director Oscar nomination and an adapted screenplay Oscar nomination for the film’s superb direction and vivid dialogue.

The cinematography by Matthew Libatique (Oscar nomination, cinematography, ”A Star is Born,” 2019; Oscar nomination, cinematography, “Black Swan”) is muted and claustrophobic, taking place as it does in one apartment.

The score by composer Rob Simonsen (“The Way Back,” 2020) builds on the film’s emotional core to become cathartic.

“The Whale” is a heartbreaker. Sometimes, we chase a whale, or a thing, or go to war with an adversary that we conjure, while ignoring the monster within.

“The Whale,” despite, or in spite of its morass of misery and miserable characters, in an inspiration. View it with an open mind. Don’t miss it.

“The Whale,”

MPAA rated R (Restricted: Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.) for language, some drug use and sexual content. Genre: Drama; Run time: 1 hour, 57 minutes. Distributed by A24.

Credit Readers Anonymous:

“The Whale” was filmed in Newburgh, N.Y. Brendan Fraser spent four hours each day of filming in the makeup department getting fitted with prosthetics that weighed up to 300 pounds. Fraser consulted with the Obesity Action Coalition.

At the Movies:

“The Whale” was seen at AMC Center Valley 16.

Theatrical Motion Picture Box Office,

Jan. 6-8: “Avatar: The Way of Water” continued at No. 1 four weeks in a row, with $45 million in 4,340 theaters, $516.7 million and $1.7 billion worldwide (seventh-biggest gross in history), four weeks, keeping “M3gan,” the bot-gone-bad horror film, opening at No. 2 with $30.2 million in 3,509 theaters, as “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” dropped one place to No. 3 with $13.1 million in 3,919 theaters, $87.7 million, three weeks, and “A Man Called Otto,” starring Tom Hanks in what could be dubbed “Forrest Grump,” moved up 14 places to No. 4 with $4.2 million in only 637 theaters, $4.2 million, two weeks.

5. “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” dropped two places, $3.3 million in 2,255 theaters, $445.4 million, nine weeks. 6. “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody” dropped two places, $2.4 million in 3,184 theaters, $19.6 million, three weeks. 7. “The Whale” stayed in place, $1.5 million in only 835 theaters, $8.5 million, five weeks. 8. “Babylon” dropped three places, $1.4 million in 2,381 theaters, $13.5 million, three weeks. 9. “Violent Night” dropped three places, $741,000 in 1,981 theaters, $49.2 million, six weeks. 10. “The Menu” dropped two places, $713,000 in only 800 theaters, $37.6 million, eight weeks.

Movie box office information from Box Office Mojo as of Jan. 8 is subject to change.

Unreel,

Jan 13:

“Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre,”

No MPAA rating: Guy Ritchie directs Jason Statham, Aubrey Plaza and Hugh Grant in the Comedy Action Thriller. A special agent recruits a Hollywood star for an undercover mission.

“Plane,”

Rated R: Jean-Francoise Richet directs Gerard Butler, Daniella Pineda and Mike Colter in the Action Thriller. A commercial pilot is caught in a war zone.

“House Party,”

Rated R: Calmatic directs Andrew Santino and Allen Maldonado in the remake of the 1990 comedy about a high school student hosting a party when his parents are away.

Movies opening information from Internet Movie Database as of Jan. 8 is subject to change.

Five Popcorn Boxes out of Five Popcorn Boxes

Here’s the link to Jimmy Durante singing “Make Someone Happy”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_Olf6smJ3s