The Ghost and the Whale

From beginning to end the movie keeps the viewer interested. The character development is excellent and the story is a troubling view of life through the mind of a bipolar man grieving and searching for answers. Maurice Benard gives an excellent performance convincingly portraying a man torn apart with grief and self destructive guilt in a town with no pity. I would strongly recommend this movie . It was well written, directed and acted.

This film tells the story of a journalist, who goes to a small town to cover a story of a man with bipolar disorder, who is believed to have done something which led to the death of his wife in the sea.

From the description, I thought the film would be an introspective film about a tormented man. In reality, the film is about a group of violent and severely disturbed townsmen who uses every means possible to get their way. The violence is graphic and disturbing. The bipolar man serves only as a vehicle to bring out the violence in the plot. There is little ghost or whale scene, so don't expect these based on the title. After watching the film, I feel disturbed and unsettled.

Maurice Benard does a tremendous performance of a bipolar man grieving the loss of his wife in an accident at sea where he can't remember what happened, while navigating the resentment, hate, and doubt of the small town in which he lives, Bodega Bay (of The Birds fame), surrounding his guilt or innocence.

The film gets a lot right; the small town feel of suspicion and factions, the portrayal of untreated bipolar 1 disorder, the different ways in which people deal with grief, or choose not to.

The sub plot of the writer coming to town to investigate Annabel's disappearance seemed superfluous and distracting.

Although his arrival at Bodega Bay, being attacked by a crow with Tippi Hedren sitting on the porch watching was a nice nod to a classic.

This under-promoted drama/mystery about a man named Joseph who is struggling with bipolar disorder and the mysterious death of his wife, is one of the best films I've seen. With an intriguing plot, a stellar cast, and beautifully shot scenes, it grabbed my attention and kept me at the edge of my seat.

The plot unfolds in such a way that I felt the dark despair, the disabling confusion, the pain, the deep love, the manic highs, the glimmers of hope, and the relentless need for answers right along with Joseph. The pace is up and down, fast, and frenzied just as Joseph's mind operates.

True to life, surrounding him are people who are ignorant about mental illness and willing to ignore him, condemn him, hurt him, hate him, and be frightened of him. Only one person is willing to get to know the real Joseph and this allows the audience to meet him, too.

Joseph's roller coaster ride throughout the film made my emotions jump from angry, to confused, to scared, to sickened at the pain human beings inflict on each other. Yet, at the same time, I found reasons to smile, to care, and to hope. The ride was truly memorable for me.

I literally have no idea what the other reviewer was talking about. I saw this gem at the WGA and it received a standing ovation of over 500 people. It is an exceptional film with intelligent characters and an intricately woven story that demands attention rather than the all too often movie goer gives. This is an exceptional important film which shines a light on the mental health field and in particular Bipolar disorder. After his wife goes missing during a whale watching expedition a forlorn Joseph Hawthorne believed to be innocent by half the town and vilified by the other half becomes a self repressed reclusive and goes off his stabilizing medication of Lithium. A year later a reporter with a resume but little knowledge of the intricacies of a small town decides to get the skinny of what actually took place. At the same time the ill fated brides brother returns from a 10 year stint in a state facility for manslaughter, just in time to exact his revenge on the man he feels robbed him of his baby sister. This is an intelligent film with demanding performances by Anthony Gaudioso as Jack Lee, coincidently Gaudioso, also wrote, directed and produced the piece, no small feat. The incomparable Jonathan Pryce appears as the films narrator and the complicated ID of our protagonist Joseph Hawthorne (Benard) Films like this are tricky and this film no doubt is good, actually better than good as it weaves three complex story lines into one creating a Hitchcockian cat and mouse between the reporter, Jack Lee, (Annabelle Lee's brother) and its central protagonist. This is not an easy story again and a bit high brow without the pretentiousness one might assume. It's only shortcomings are that of it's restrictive budget. Shot only on750k the film for at least this view was a winner. The only restriction is the films budget, a mere 750k and for that the filmmakers have a winner.