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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Poor Things, Anyone But You, Wish: the biggest films coming to Australia on Boxing Day

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Misbehaving mallards, chiselled leading men and Disney in decline … here’s our guide to what’s about to hit a screen near you

In all my years as a loyal Boxing Day cinema-goer, this particular crop of films might be the strangest. Several films here feel beamed in from an alternate universe; others are decidedly creations of our own ghastly world. There are mawkish dramas, aeriform travelogues, and at least two entries which live and die on the power of their stars’ abs. In other words: fitting diversions. Enjoy!

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