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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Small Slow But Steady review meditative boxing tale as deaf fighter rethinks life

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Film follows Keiko, deaf since birth, making her way in the ring when Covid-19 lockdown arrives in Japan and she must deal with confidence issues

The title is presumably meant to refer to the film’s fine-boned heroine Keiko Ogawa (Yukino Kishii), a scrappy boxer who has just turned professional, but it just as aptly describes the film itself: a delicate, atmospheric study that’s quite unlike most other fight movies. Based on a memoir by boxer Keiko Ogasawara, this very internal story unfolds during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, with a locked-down Japan adding a further layer of isolation to Keiko’s life. Thanks to Kishii’s luminous performance, Keiko comes across as a very self-sufficient but lonely figure, completely deaf since birth, who finds in fighting some kind of release and sensory thrill, even though her lack of hearing creates very specific challenges in the ring given she can’t hear shouted instructions from her coaches or even the bell.

Keiko’s family – mum (Hiroko Nakajima) and brother Seiji (Himi Satô), with whom she communicates mostly via sign – are supportive but don’t really get the sport’s appeal, and that sort of goes for the co-workers at her day job as a hotel housekeeper. The only person who really gets her is the “chairman” (Tomokazu Miura) of the gym where she trains; he is a man now not in the best of health, considering closing up shop as his other regular trainees gradually jump ship, some grumbling that Keiko is the one who gets all the attention now.

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