Whale Music

My first exposure to "Whale Music" was the Rheostatics album of the same name, that I bought around 1993. I was reading the liner notes and the band said the album, which remains in a prominent place in my collection, was inspired by Canadian author Paul Quarrington's book.

I picked up the book a few months later and devoured it! An amazing read! I have since re-read the book numerous times, each time finding some new element to Desmond and his desire to complete the Whale Music.

I found the film in 1996, on video. I haven't had a lot of good experiences with Canadian film, but this one worked for me. The role of Claire could have been cast differently, but overall I think that Paul Quarrington's vision was transfered nicely from the book to the screen.

Maury Chaykin gives a moving performance as the isolated genius. The movie deals with family relationships, love, and finding someone who understands. I would strongly recommend "Whale Music" to not only music fans, but anyone who has ever lost something or someone, and tried to find their way back to the world.

I originally rented Whale Music because I'm a fan of Deborah Duchene. But I was completely surprised at the caliber of this movie. It's wonderful. The acting is so convincing you wonder if the people knew they were being filmed. Also, the love story between Desmond and Claire is so interesting because of their differences. The characters are believable and un-cliched. Claire is skinny and pretty but not bombshell beautiful and Desmond is slightly obese and normal looking.

It's a very real, original film that is well worth renting. I've seen it at least eight times and enjoyed each time.

A friend of mine recommended this movie, citing my vocal and inflective similarities with Des Howl, the movie's main character. I guess to an extent I can see that and perhaps a bit more, I'm not very sure whether or not that's flattering portrayal.

This is a pretty unique work, the only movie to which this might have more than a glancing similarity would be True Romance, not for the content or the style of filming or for the pace of dialogue (Whale Music is just so much more, well, relaxed.) But instead that they both represent modern love stories.

In general I'm a big fan of Canadian movies about music and musicians (for example I highly recommend Hard Core Logo) and this film in particular. It has an innocent charm, Des is not always the most likeably guy, but there's something about him that draws a sterling sort of empathy.

If your main interest in film is the exploration of character, "Whale Music" has something to offer you. And you'd better like that, because it's all that's on show here. The script is certainly meandering, and a little bit aimless. It takes a real long time to get anywhere, and when it does, you might question if the journey was worth it. But the actors are good. Maury Chaykin and Cynthia Preston work believably together. Chaykin, especially, has a convincing internal struggle.

I suspect a braver film could have eliminated the secondary characters and amped up the issues and delusions and emotions of Chaykin's character. There's enough here to make a worthwhile film, but you get the sense that more could have been achieved with the material provided.

Based on Paul Quarrington's award-winning novel, which in turn is loosely based on the life of Brian Wilson, "Whale Music" should be a much better film than it is. Maury Chaykin is so well cast as Des you'd think Quarrington wrote the character with him in mind, and the whale music itself (composed by Canada's greatest band, Rheostatics) is terrific, but the movie is a disappointment. The novel is a wonderfully entertaining read, however, and the story is much better developed in print; another commentator has mistakenly written that the flashbacks concern Des's son when they feature his brother, Danny (or Dennis Wilson).