The Plague
20257.9movie
People
A socially awkward tween endures the ruthless hierarchy at a water polo camp, his anxiety spiraling into psychological turmoil over the summer.
A socially awkward tween endures the ruthless hierarchy at a water polo camp, his anxiety spiraling into psychological turmoil over the summer.
Bullying, gaslighting, and total paranoia: Director Charlie Polinger on ‘The Plague’.That’s when he came across his journals from when he was a tweenager, things he scribbled down at an all-boys' summer camp. “There was this idea of ‘the plague,’ which is a game we played,” he explains to Gold Derby in the aftermath of his Cannes-premiering feature directorial debut, The Plague, scoring three Independent Spirit Award nominations: Best Feature, Best Lead Performance (Everett Blunck as Ben), and Best Breakthrough Performance (Kayo Martin as Jake).
Director: Charlie Polinger. Panelists: Charlie Polinger (director/screenwriter), Joel Edgerton (actor/producer). Logline: At an all-boys water polo camp, a socially awkward 12-year-old is pulled into a cruel tradition targeting an outcast with an illness they call “The Plague.” As he endures the ruthless hierarchy, his anxiety spirals into psychological turmoil while the lines between game and reality blur, and he fears the joke might be hiding something real.
