By Becca Taylor
Have you ever regretted treating someone a certain way? Telling them things you never meant, wanting to take back those emotion-driven statements or doing something that actually helped rather than hurt?
Jay Gardiner (Austin Abrams) holds onto this mindset in Brian Duffield’s “Whalefall.” Based on the book by Daniel Kraus, the audience follows college-aged Jay through a journey of emotional and physical turmoil, discovering the relationship that he used to have with his father along the way.
The movie opens with the Californian coast, a fishing boat and a cancer-burdened Mitt Gardiner (Josh Brolin) tying weights around himself and jumping into the sea below. His suicide wracks the minds of the locals and his family, especially Jay, his only son. The only reminders they have of him are letters to his three children and the heroic memories from the locals.
A year later, Jay and his family travel from Iowa, where he plans to attend college, and back to California. After a night of reminiscing about the past, Jay makes the decision to search for his dead father’s remains off the coast of Monastery Beach. He loads up his car, buys a tank of oxygen that will last him one whole hour and begins his dive.
As he searches and comes up empty handed near a deep drop off, a giant squid swims past him – not alone. Chasing its prey, a massive sperm whale tosses Jay in the strong current, accidentally catching him in its mouth.
The audience literally dives in headfirst to the rest of the film, and they become trapped with Jay inside this large aquatic mammal. Not only that, but the squid is alive with him. This is the kickstart to an experience filled with solitude, survival and regret.
Audiences tend to overlook the simple relationship between a father and son, but Duffield portrays the complexity and depth that they truly hold. Jay and his sick father, Mitt, never got along. Mitt was always pushing his son to ignore the concept of fun and instead taught him survival and grit when it came to the ocean. The last time Jay ever saw his father was during an argument on a boat he refuses to step on again.
Throughout the film, the audience is shown the consequences that can come from a broken relationship and how regret sticks with people longer than they want it to. This is demonstrated by Jay wrestling with his own hallucinations. From befriending a jellyfish to hearing his dad’s voice in his head, Jay shows the audience that his own relational regrets were farther than any depth a whale could swim to.
The themes of this film are extremely touching, and Austin Abrams portrays this college-aged, trauma battling diver in a way that feels real and intense to his viewers. Josh Brolin does a good job at acting out his role as a dying father who makes mistakes in trying to raise a stable son. The audience is taught how to move on from past mistakes and appreciate the contentment that comes with grief, even if it is hard.
If anyone with a weak stomach has the desire to watch this movie – do not. This movie is based off of a thriller, and it contains many grotesque features such as blood, injuries and whatever fluids people assume is held inside of a whale.
The film is fitting for anyone that takes an appeal towards survival thrillers. It is filled to the brim with call-to-action, edge-of-seat moments that keep the audience wondering what will happen next. Not only does every movement that Jay makes keep viewers engaged, but the way the movie is filmed brings the audience into the story right next to him.
“Whalefall” is currently playing in theaters.
Becca Taylor is a freshman Professional Writing and Information Design major and A&E Writer.
She enjoys the idea of whale watching from afar.
Images courtesy of 20th Century Studios and 3 Arts Entertainment
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