The Plague review – water polo camp turns into tween hellscape with impressive stylistic bite

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With Fincher-like intent, director Charlie Polinger scopes out concealed psychological depths in a debut that sees the laws of the jungle play out Set at a boy’s water polo training camp in the summer of 2003, Charlie Polinger’s debut feature plunges beneath the waterline to scope out concealed psychological depths. It may not be news that these kids operate in a brutal, animal-like hierarchy driven by braggadocio, bullying, hazing and gaslighting – but from the stunning initial submerged shot of a pool glittering like a starfield, Polinger brings impressive stylistic bite to this tween hellscape: the kind of trenchant intent you might associate with David Fincher. Latecomer Ben (Everett Blunck) is thrown in at the deep end when he arrives. Desperate to ingratiate himself with the cool crowd lorded over by the impish Jake (Kayo Martin), he aims to avoid the pariah status of house lummox Eli (Kenny Rasmussen), who is supposedly afflicted with a (made-up) disease the brats dub “the pla...
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The moment I knew: ‘I pledged I would go to mass for 30 days to understand what I was feeling’

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After years of friendship, Josie still wasn’t sure whether she was into Chris. So she struck a deal with God

I was 18 when I first met Chris at a church youth group. Although we came from the same ethno-religious group, Chris wasn’t strictly religious. For him, youth group was a way to socialise with people from our community.

I never really paid him any attention, but one night after youth group he walked me to my car. He was trying to get to know me – he told me later that he had noticed me playing Scrabble at our camp and that was the kind of life he wanted with someone. I summed my interests up for him very clearly: pizza, ice-cream and making lists. He must have liked that answer because suddenly, it felt like he was everywhere.

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from Love And Sex | The Guardian https://ift.tt/wrQyOov

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