India, Oct. 16 -- You don't walk into the theatre to watch a film about a whale swallowing a man whole, expecting it to be anything other than a survival thriller or maybe a coming-of-age drama if you're lucky. Well, colour me surprised then. For I wasn't aware of what Whalefall had to throw at me. The Daniel Kraus novel was so much more, bringing a tale of survival into the story of a boy's attempts to connect to his father. And Brian Duffield's adaptation of the book is that, and much more. With stunning visuals, some brilliant performances, and amazing camera work, Whalefall is the genre-bending surprise of this fall that reminds you of what cinema can truly achieve.

Jay Gardiner is a teenager trying to come to terms with the death of...