X
- 2021
- PG
- Bleecker Street Media
- 1 h 36 m
- 2021
- PG
- Bleecker Street Media
- 1 h 36 m
Summary The Loneliest Whale is a cinematic quest to find the “52 Hertz Whale,” which scientists believe has spent its entire life in solitude calling out at a frequency that is different from any other whale. As the film embarks on this engrossing journey, audiences will explore what this whale’s lonely plight can teach us — not just about our c...
Directed By: Joshua Zeman
Written By: Lisa Schiller, Joshua Zeman
- 2021
- PG
- Bleecker Street Media
- 1 h 36 m
- 2021
- PG
- Bleecker Street Media
- 1 h 36 m
The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52
67
8.0
Where to Watch
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Summary The Loneliest Whale is a cinematic quest to find the “52 Hertz Whale,” which scientists believe has spent its entire life in solitude calling out at a frequency that is different from any other whale. As the film embarks on this engrossing journey, audiences will explore what this whale’s lonely plight can teach us — not just about our c...
Directed By: Joshua Zeman
Written By: Lisa Schiller, Joshua Zeman
Where to Watch
Coming Soon
Not available in your country?
ExpressVPN
Get 3 Extra months free
$6.67/mth
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 8 Critic Reviews
67
63% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
38% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 8 Critic Reviews
67
63% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
38% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Jul 13, 2021
The Loneliest Whale is gripping and highly persuasive, blending hard science with real-life action/adventure sequences, talking-head interviews, and — sorry, sorry — a whale of a true story that has been headline news for years.
Jul 9, 2021
Even if you don’t care much about whales, or don’t think you do, Joshua Zeman’s enthusiastic documentary The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52 might make you care about people who care about whales.
Jul 8, 2021
While Zeman’s enthusiasm is occasionally infectious, his conjectures, explained in voiceover, are riddled with platitudes and self-centered sound bites that say more about an egotistical need to be the first at something, to be the one who found 52, than about our connection with our large swimming counterparts.
Jun 26, 2021
While 52 remains something of a mystery, The Loneliest Whale renders him less of a metaphor.
Apr 4, 2022
This is a film raised a fair few notches by the wonder of geekery, the absolute joy of seeing scientists living and breathing their work.
Jul 9, 2021
The preceding journey might have been smoother, but the doc is a reminder that we still know so little about the oceans and their inhabitants, and an illustration of how much hope we attach to them.
Jul 8, 2021
The result is a well-meaning but somewhat granola, partly engaging yet disorganized documentary, one that searches for an imprecise story and struggles to keep its chief ambitions afloat.
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 5 User Ratings
8.0
80% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
20% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 5 User Ratings
8.0
80% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
20% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
Aug 12, 2021
The search for connection is something that we all understand, not only as a social practice, but also as a personal and collective need. So, when we hear about an individual who is unable to fulfill that requirement, we're often saddened by this deficiency, regardless of whether this circumstance involves a human or some other creature. Such is the case for a believed-hybrid whale that sings its songs on a unique frequency, making it fundamentally unable to communicate with its peers and causing it to labeled as the ultimate social outcast. This has thus led to the emergence of a mythology sentimentally celebrated in story and even song, all backed by an abundance of empathy for this loner of the deep, a creature that has come to be known as "the loneliest whale." The search for this elusive cetacean provides the focus of filmmaker Joshua Zeman's captivating new documentary, which shares the story of this solitary specimen and the long-shot expedition launched to find it. The film generally tells the tale in a beautifully filmed and engaging vehicle, though it has unfortunate tendencies to slip off into tangents that are awkwardly introduced and to insert annoying, somewhat self-aggrandizing observations from the director/narrator, intrusions that needlessly impede the flow of the narrative. Nevertheless, this offering also draws a number of relevant and pertinent parallels between the human condition and that of the lonely whale and its kindreds, metaphorical parables that we had all better heed if we hope to save the whales -- and ourselves.
Report
Production Company
- After Hours Productions
- Alldayeveryday Productions
- Appian Way
- Electric Panda Entertainment
- Gigantic Pictures
- Lost Lane Entertainment
- ShowKat Productions
- Skyline Entertainment
Release Date Jul 9, 2021
Duration 1 h 36 m
Rating PG
Genres
Awards
Critics' Choice Documentary Awards
• 3 Nominations
Innsbruck Nature Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
