The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52

A beautiful, emotional, and informative film

The art of making a movie out of a failed expedition. No results? Don't make a movie. Please.

The 52-Hertz whale is a fascinating story of an animal that may be the only of its kind, but Joshua Zeman's documentary in which he makes himself the star (at times) is an absolute mess. Filled with B roll and whale footage that isn't 52, it's lingers between a nature doc and tangents that don't fit. The players searching for the whale are genuine, as is the quest, but the footage used is at best confusing and at worst disingenuous. If you're interested in the whale and it's backstory give it a shot, but this could have been done in an hour and feels unnecessarily stretched to 97 minutes. You will get some really great insight, but again it's muddled by another Werner Herzog wannabe. Final Score: 5.3/10

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.

Interesting enough to watch but ultimately a little light on the actual whale we all wanted to see. Full review on vanessasnonspoilers.com

Wow!!!! I had no knowledge of anything about whales before going into this, but is was an absolute emotional rollercoaster. The cinematography was also beautiful. Makes me want to go out on the ocean....

A stunning must-watch for any nature lovers.

Very well done. I really enjoyed it.

I really enjoyed this movie. It had great photography and told an interesting story. I just wished it had done a better job of explaining how whales respond to the song of another whale of the same species and how they believe there could be two '52' whales.

We have so much work to do. Studying and protecting whales. humans are so dumb.