A Whale (film)


A Whale is a 2024 neo-noir fantasy thriller film written and directed by. It stars Ingrid García-Jonsson and Ramón Barea.
The film premiered at the 57th Sitges Film Festival on 10 October 2024 ahead of its theatrical rollout in Spain on 28 March 2025 by Elastica Films.

Plot

The plot follows Ingrid, a contract killer who draws her power to vanish without a trace from another world inhabited by monsters.

Production

In the view of Hernando the film is "first and foremost" "the story of a contract killer in a world of smugglers and mobsters", linking it to Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samouraï. García-Jonsson cited instead Nicolas Winding Refn's filmography and Under the Skin as references.
The film was produced by Señor y Señora, Sayaka Producciones, and Orisa Produzioni. Shooting locations in Biscay included the artificial island of Zorrotzaurre. Upon wrapping shooting, Hernando reported that the project was going to enter a long post-production because of the profusion of VFX.

Release

The film was presented at the 57th Sitges Film Festival on 10 October 2024. Distributed by Elastica, it is expected to receive a theatrical release in Spain on 28 March 2025.

Reception

Júlia Olmo of Cineuropa described A Whale as "a cross between film noir, science fiction and cosmic horror", lauding it as "a film as cryptic as it is beautiful, and at times hypnotic".
of El Periódico de Catalunya rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, writing that it is "visually stunning".
Antonio Trashorras of Fotogramas rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, highlighting its "hypnotic sound and musical design" as the best thing about it.
Miguel Ángel Romero of Cinemanía rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, declaring it "pure visual poetry".
Raquel Hernández Luján of HobbyConsolas gave the film 80 points, singling out Sara Gallego's cinematography as the film's best.
Javier Ocaña of El País considered that despite faring better in some aspects than in others, the film "is almost always suggestive thanks to its uniqueness", primarily underpinned by the "dry and sententious" dialogues and the "icy and desolate" atmospheres.