Not too far into The Whale, the new Darren Aronofsky movie, my eyes began to grow blurred and soggy; midway through, I was smearing away an actual tear or two, and by the end…well, let's just say that the conclusion of this picture, which unifies its themes in a powerful rush of poetic imagery, can only encourage outright blubbering.
Some may argue that The Whale is really just an old-fashioned weepie, a simple commercial calculation, featuring a likeable protagonist beset by tragic circumstance. Maybe it's not a deep-think picture akin to, say, The Elephant Man. Maybe it's simpler than that—more like Bambi.
