Whalefall – Film Review
by Brian Merriman

Written and directed by Brian Duffield
Screenplay by Daniel Krauss, based on his book.
Starring Austin Abrahms, Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Shue, Jane Levy, Emily Rudd

Cinematographer Aaron Morton
Production Designer Ramsay Avery

Duration: 106  minutes

“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.”

Seventy years ago, John Huston’s epic movie Moby Dick, starring Gregory Peck, took the screen by storm. There was a huge interest in Ireland, as Huston shot some of the harbour scenes in Youghal, County Cork and cast well-known Irish actors in supporting roles.

With that in mind, an innocent visit to Whalefall did not conjure up that warm feeling Disney recreated when Pinocchio’s maker Gepetto found himself living on a shipwreck inside Monstro the whale. Whalefall, based on Daniel Krauss’s book, is a very different treatment.

Not for the squeamish or claustrophobic, our valiant hero, Jay (Austin Abrams), is dealing with the death of his diver father, Mitt (a gritty Josh Brolin). Mitt was the quintessential weathered, dominant American father, whose parenting skills involve passing on everything he knows about the ocean and survival. So rich were the lessons that a lot else was missing from the father/son relationship, and as Jay finds out, what is left unsaid in life can not be made up for once death intervenes.

Aaron Morton, as a cinematographer, gives us a stunning visual treat in his ocean shots, and he and director Duffield wound up the tension rapidly in the hunter/prey scenes. The accomplished female cast provide the brief glimpses in the home-based scenes, but the main plot revolves around the spoken and unspoken relationship between Jay and his father. Opportunities to bridge that gap are made all the more challenging for the pair as illness reduces this formerly fit man to the inevitability that his diving days are past.

The internal organs of a sperm whale dominate most of the on-screen scenario, with some unexplained internal lighting which illuminates the squashing and toxicity of the environment Jay finds himself battling. It is not for the squeamish or faint-hearted. Abrahms has little opportunity to converse with anyone, but manages to enunciate a narrative in the bleakest of circumstances.

There are many fine achievements in this production, but if you can endure almost an hour and a half of the intestines of a sperm whale, then this is for you! For me, the message is: if you feel that your relationship with your father lacks communication, call him now, while you are both still above water!