by Cain Noble-Davies
Worth: $16.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Vincent Tong, Bruce Dinsmore, Chimwemwe Miller, Lisa Ortiz, Priyanka
Intro:
… dazzles, unsettles, and uplifts with equal cyclonic force.
After the precedent-shattering success of Flow, the indie animation boom that it heralded is picking up some steam. Made by German-based Telescope Animation, with funding and rendering support from Epic Games and their Unreal Engine, The Last Whale Singer is a film built from recognisable parts but manages to stun with an impact to the ears, eyes, and hearts that is wholly its own.
Following orphaned whale Vincent (Vincent Tong) and his nanny Walter (Bruce Dinsmore) as they navigate the seas to find the fabled Star Ocean, the afterlife of the whales including Vincent’s own parents, The Last Whale Singer shows an impressive level of atmosphere and scope in its depiction of the watery depths. With the environmental impact of humans creating an unseen spectre that stretches across the topography, from a maze of trash mounds lorded over by a walrus on a bouncy castle chariot, to the effect of whaling ships on many of the characters, the film delivers an effective message but without centring humans in the story. Their actions are behind much of what is seen and felt, but this yarn is far more intimate than that may suggest.
Between its parental loss opening and recurring mantra of needing to let go of one’s grief and trauma, there’s more than a little Finding Nemo in the film’s emotional wavelength. But not only does this genuinely manage to hit the same heights of palpable tragedy as that Pixar classic, there are even pockets where it goes further in connecting the audience with the pain of the protagonist.
Filtered through a classic ‘chosen one’ narrative, with Vincent destined to take up his father’s mantle as Whale Singer, the film’s perspective on survivor’s guilt and the struggle to accept death not only hits like an orca tail to the chest, but is beautifully balanced with the film’s more magical edges to create a mood that is both spiritual and grounded. It presents magical connections with the dead as a reality, without diminishing the fact that death and separation are part of the natural order.
In exploring incredibly nuanced feelings concerning personal loss and the lengths some will go to sooth it, the film’s sense of grandeur in creating a bioluminescent galaxy beneath the skin of the ocean transcends its familiar story to create something remarkably potent. Both its larger environmental stance and Vincent’s personal journey are underpinned with the importance of healing, starting within and spreading out from there. It adds further dimensions to the film’s visual capacity, with the ocean feeling truly massive to the point where even whales are dwarfed by its size, by showing just how much there is to be lost while scrambling to cope with what has already been lost.
The actual whale song itself admittedly lacks that immediate wow factor that stories like this rely on (although Ásgeir’s vocalisations are still quite pretty), but its emphasis on legacy, on collective voices, and the need to look out for anyone and everyone bolster its green messaging by highlighting success as a group effort – whether it’s past generations who created the foundation, or those swimming in our same waters.
The Last Whale Singer is a tear-stained flip on familiar Disney story beats (along with Finding Nemo, there’s elements of The Lion King and even Moana mixed in here). It whips up emotional growth, spiritual awakening, and unfortunate truths about life and how it is treated, into a veritable whirlpool that dazzles, unsettles, and uplifts with equal cyclonic force. The animation, backed by Daníel Bjarnason’s soundtrack, makes every moment gorgeous to behold, the English voice cast are all excellent in their deliveries (special mentions to a perfectly-cast Drag Race alumnus Priyanka as the guru Ora, and Chimwemwe Miller in a particularly devastating dual casting as two very different kinds of father figures), and while the story isn’t ultimately anything all that special or unique, the emotional trenches found along the way pierce any pangs of déjà vu to make the whole journey worth taking.
