Before going to see this Catherine Ditchburn said I was going to laugh and also cry a lot.
Catherine Ditchburn was absolutely correct.
If you’d like to empty and dry out your tear ducts for a while I’d recommend double billing this with A Real Pain which I did unknowing to the extent of the emotions today.
ENB looked sublime. Strong, powerful dancing bodies on screen is something I won’t ever tire from. The body always has a story to tell and non-verbal performance has a script and power of its own. Jeffrey Cirio is just out of this world. The detail in his physicality is utterly phenomenal. Akram Khan may be many things, but he can add his choreographic work here to his portfolio of successes - even if it’s structure felt a little too linear and…
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
TRIGGER WARNING: talk below on suicide.
(If you know of someone easily triggered by this, the kindest thing you could do would be to encourage them to see quite literally any other film.)
For me, The Whale hit every single wrong note. Supposedly about empathy and love, it appears void of these at every turn. Harmful, insincere, contrived and reeking of Academy Award bait, my best advice would be to avoid at all costs.
This film tries to make a profound…
