WHALEFALL

Whalefall (2026)

Directed by: Brian Duffield 

Watching the film feels more like taking a ride through the writer’s imagination than exploring the main character’s grief and emotional struggles.

The journey is screaming metaphorical and visceral. The main character has daddy issues, and the big whale represents his inner turmoil that’s eating him alive. When you’re inside the whale, the claustrophobic atmosphere and its grotesque body parts leave you suffocated and desperate for fresh air.

You get to experience all of it within the first act. By then, you might already have an idea of where the story is headed. True enough, there’s not much left to look forward to as the adventure continues.

Once you get to see the insides of the whale, that’s pretty much it. The grossness continues throughout, but it stays almost at the same level, with little variation or escalation.

The fragmented scenes with the dad become repetitive and monotonous. He comes across as someone giving survival tips and reminders to care for nature rather than an actual parent.

These memories are forcibly inserted into the film, as though the son is obligated to accept them. Since he is caught in a life-or-death situation, he has no other choice but to grab every opportunity to survive. This leaves little room for him to reflect on what went wrong or right in their relationship.

Having little choice in how to process your grief is what makes this film truly suffocating. Ironically, it becomes more about temporarily escaping the pain than dealing with it.

Since the story isn’t scientifically possible, you can sense that the writer is controlling the narrative. The script introduces convenient circumstances and distasteful excuses just to give the main character a way out of the whale’s body. The story blows it by the end, settling on an unsatisfying resolution.

Looking back at this film, some decisions in life are really made out of necessity. People do what they have to do in order to survive — even if it’s for selfish reasons. 

Whether or not the whale has to fall in the process, what matters is that you survive and aren’t the one falling. This makes the film all the more of a downer.

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋

Cast: Austin Abrams, Josh Brolin, Elisabeth Shue, John Ortiz, Jane Levy, Emily Rudd

Screenplay by: Brian Duffield, Daniel Kraus (based on the novel by Daniel Kraus)

Presented by: Imagine Entertainment, 3 Arts Entertainment

Release Date: October 14, 2026 in Philippine cinemas nationwide 

A Movie Review by: Goldwin Reviews