A reclusive online English teacher, Charlie (Brendan Fraser) suffering from severe morbid obesity and is riddled with CHF (congestive heart failure) attempts to reconnect with his troubled, estranged daughter, Ellie (Sadie Sink) for one last chance at redemption. He certainly knows as well as his friend/visiting RN Liz (Hong Chau) that he could could die any day considering his diagnosis. So, since he refuses to go to the hospital, he asks Ellie to visit him and she begrudgingly decides to. Many things that he has done (or not done) has caused such an upheaval in his and his family's lives, which he is so depressed over, but now he feels that if he had this one last chance, could he be redeemed or is it way too late?
Others to round out the cast are Ty Simpkins as Thomas, Samantha Morton as Mary, Charlie's ex-wife, Sathya Sridharan as Dan the pizza man and Jacey Sink as young Ellie.
This was carefully delineated by director Darren Aronofsky ("Pi" '98, Requiem for a Dream" 2000, "The Fountain" '06, "The Wrestler" '08, "Black Swan" '10, "Noah" '14, "Mother!" '17) plus TV, shorts and a music video. Aronofsky is without a doubt an extremely talented director, but this has got to be his best direction yet. How he was able to extract the incredible nuances of emotion from his actors, especially that of Fraser, was simply astounding! Fraser certainly has quite the resume of interesting and well performed roles, but this was a sheer tour de force. Of course, with a director such as Aronofsky at the helm, it definitely helps. If you like the brand of this filmmaker, his "Adrift" is in pre production. It was brilliantly written by Simon D. Hunter based on his play. He only has TV and a short to his film credit, but since he is a playwright, I understand that he wouldn't have a ton of film experience. However, after seeing this film, he could easily obtain the interest from any producer or director to write another screenplay this being so well written. The sequence of scenes were so fluid that the pages jumped off the screen. The characters were developed with incredible precision that you felt that you were eavesdropping in on real individuals. Fraser has always been a fine actor and I was sure sorry that he moved away from the limelight, but after seeing this film, hopefully he will come back to making more films. He will undoubtedly receive an Academy Award nomination, and could win for sure.
Even though this film is a bit depressing, the artistry of the film will blow you away, especially if you are a film buff. This is a film about troubled people and how much their issues can and certainly does affect others. The question is, can they improve? We can ask ourselves that same question.
Out of 4 Stars: 4 Rated: R 116mins.
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