Whalefall, 2026.
Directed by Brian Duffield
Starring Austin Abrams, Josh Brolin, Elisabeth Shue, John Ortiz, Jane Levy, and Emily Rudd.
SYNOPSIS:
Follows a scuba diver who, while looking for his father’s remains, is swallowed by an 80-foot, 60-ton sperm whale and has just one hour to get out before his oxygen runs out.
As far as metaphors go, processing a fractured relationship with one’s father through the experiences of being swallowed up by a whale while searching for his remains and undergoing unimaginable pain from the cramped spaces in which organs and other body parts are crushing human lungs, with body rashes materializing from coming into contact with everything else floating around inside the digestive system, writer/director Brian Duffield’s Whalefall (an adaptation of Daniel Kraus’ novel of the same name) is a gonzo idea that, the more it goes on, begins to feel as hallucinatory as what Jay (Austin Abrams), the poor soul trapped inside another type of sea world, imagines as a coping mechanism. Without spoiling too much, it involves hearing a disembodied voice of his father, with Josh Brolin delivering the lines as if he is Mufasa from The Lion King,
The intention isn’t to make the film sound more ludicrous than its premise already suggests, but it does become a fever dream of a survival thriller unlike the genre’s usual grim and gritty offerings. That’s also not to say there is no ambition of telling a story here, as there are several flashbacks throughout that, rather than unfolding chronologically, occur as conversations relating to how they could provide some advice for Jay’s unusual predicament while touching on how strained the bond with his father Mitt became as he neared the end of his life from a terminal illness (presumably brought on by a lifetime of scuba diving and deep-sea environmental activism, which is made abundantly clear when shirtless, covered in tattoos referencing the divinity of nature).
With thankless roles and brief appearances, Elisabeth Shue plays Jay’s mom, and others play sisters (Jane Levy is also here with nothing to do), mostly seen during the prologue reunion following Mitt’s sudden death (not from the illness), the filmmakers also seem self-aware that the drama in this narrative is occasionally corny and certainly formulaic. Interspersing flashbacks throughout the spectacle of bumbling and climbing around, trying to escape the inside of a whale, also does its job of smoothing over that shortcoming. As such, it’s no surprise that the film rushes to get Jay inside that whale, where its simultaneously absurd and grounded premise pushes the young man to think outside the box with resourcefulness.
What’s truly impressive is that the filmmakers have seemingly built a fully convincing production design that resembles what one can only assume is the inside of a whale, with a claustrophobic feel. To the film’s advantage, there are several moments of Jay warming his way through tight spaces and slimy substances (seemingly around the nose and stomach regions) where one doesn’t always quite know what the hell they are looking at. In fact, it would be wonderful to watch this next to an expert in whale organs and anatomy. It’s also fitting, since Jay most likely doesn’t know either and only has a vague sense of which body parts he’s interacting with and which direction he is headed. That’s accounting for the training his father tried to give him, which led to a rift as the boy became more interested in his own dreams and preparing for college.
The emotional through line of a father/son dynamic trying to spiritually make amends is commendable as something to invest in beyond the thrills. Again, at times the human drama can feel hokey. Fortunately, there is also nothing quite like watching Austin Abrams – who is having a terrific year on screen even if the characters he plays are absolutely going through miserable endeavors – scream in shock and pain, move around, and get crafty while attempting to escape the inside of a whale. A case could be made that Whalefall doesn’t need any of the flashbacks or the family drama/grief angle, as the tension and dynamic filmmaking inside the whale make it something singularly riveting within the survival genre
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
