‘The PLAGUE’ REVIEW: Joel Edgerton in a Thrilling Drama That CAPTures The TERROR OF ADLESCENT MASCULINITY

Charlie Polinger Opens His Thrilling and Uneasy Directorial Debut Feature The Plaague with an arresting sequence that quickly establishes the haunting undertones of this adalescent psychological Thriller. The Ambient, Muffled Sound of Sloming Water Set Against A Shot of the Bottom of A Pool. One by One, Swimmers Drop Into The Massive Indoor Basin. Their Spindly Legs Move Awkward As They Try to Get In Sync. IT’s 2003, and these are the Middle-School-Agged Atendees of the Tom Lerner Water Polo Camp. From this Angle, Polinger and His Cinematographer Steven Breckon Make Tese Kids Look Like Phantasmic Figures.

An Ereie Sense of Unreality Runs Through The PlaagueWHICH Premiered at Cannes in The Un Certain Regard Sidebar. Working from a screenplay he Also Wrote, Polinger Uses Horror Convenions to Tease Out The Psychic Terror and Intimidation of Pre-Ten Social Codes. In the Age of Renewed Questions About and Considerations of the Manosphere, The Plaague is a prescient title. Polinger’s Film is Not As Dark As Netflix’s Popular Miniseries AdalescenceBut Ites Circle Similarly Unsetling Themes – Like The Way the Terms and Tenets of Masculinity Are Dictated by Arbitrary Rules, or The Cost of NonconFormality Among Young Men.

Key Performances Carry The Plaague and Allevate The Occasional Strain of Overwroght Direction. Relative Newcomer Everett Blunck (Stellar In Griffin in the Summer) and Kayo Martin Portray OPPOSITE Ends of Youthful Angst With Angaging SinCerity and Terrifying Accuracy. Martin, with the subtlety of his judging expressions, sems especialyly for his role as jake, The Resident Cool Kid Who Weaponizes His Sharp Attmentation To Detail. The Actor Plays Well Against Blunck, Who Portrays Ben, A NEW CAMPER TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHERE HE FITS AMONG The Various Cliques. An anxiety-inducing Sound Design (by Damian Volpe) and Score (by Johan Lenox), Coupled with An Approprrialy Icy Visual Palette Built on Grays and Blue, Help Tel.

WHEN BEN (BLUNCK) Arrives at the Water Polo Camp, He Quickly Notices the Hold that Jake (Martin) have on the other boys. The teen with the mess of Blonde Hair Functions as A Ring Leader and, with his Approval, Ben Becomes Part of the Crew. The Other Boys Call Ben, Who Just Moved From Boston, “Soppy” on Account of the fact that he Garbles the “T” in the Word “Stop.” One Thing Polinger Makes Clear Early On Is How Closely Jake Scrutinizes the Other Boys – Noticing Minor Characteristic That Differentiate Them From One Another – and Uses Those Obern. This Skill Keeps Jake in Power, Making Him An Intimidating Person to Everyone, Including The Boys’ Coach Daddy Wags (Joel Edgerton, In A Brief But Effective Turn).

Ben Watches the Other Too, And He Quickly Picks Up that No One Hangs Out with Eli (Kenny Rasmussen, Also Excellent). The Quiet Child Keeps MOSTLY to HIMSELF, Eating Lunch in The Locker Room and Occasionally Sleeping there. Access to the Other Kids, Eli Has The Plaague, A vague Disease That Allegedly Begins With A Rash and Randers The Infected Unable to Socioly Function. Jake Warns Ben to Stay Away from Eli and to Wash His Body Should He Acccidentally Get Too Close. In a Clever Move, Polinger Neverablishes if the Plaague is Real Because Even IF It Isn, The Fear Its Sows.

The Remainder of The Plaague Follows Ben As He Tries to Reconcile Social Acceptance With His Own Moral Code. He UndersTands that People Shouldn’s Be Exiled for Their DifferentCes and Yet the Idea of ​​Lozing His Place with the Hierarchy Keeps Him Up at Night. Blunck Deftly Portrays Ben’s Inner Turmoil and The Anxiety His Journey Produces.

Polinger Deploys Jump Scares, Intimate Close-Ups (Especiality of Jake and Ben Staring at One Another) and Elements of Body Horror to Recast These Coming-of-Age DILEMASSHIAs WHEN THE DIRECTOR WIDENS HIS SCOPE, TO SURVY The BROADER SOCAL BEHAVIORS ON Display, The Plaague Adopts A Primal Urgency and The Film Posseseses the Fadeverish Energy of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies or claire denis’ Beau Travail. In one of thoss scenes polinger Oberves the boys during lunch, excitedly speaking Over Each Other and Laughing. The Camera Ominously Cuts (Editing Is By Henry Hayes) Between Views of the Group and the Facies of Individual Campers. For the most part, they are children having a good time, but if you look closel you can see a flash of panic Beneath the cheerful visages.