In the early minutes of Laura Casabe’s sweltering horror-adjacent drama, The Virgin of The Quarry Lake, a homeless vagrant is nearly beaten to death in a middle-class neighbourhood. Bearing passing resemblance to the creature behind the Winkies in Mulholland Drive, and looking straight at the camera, he shambles away from a puddle of his own blood, leaving his shopping cart full of belongings, and possibly some dead animals, to rot in the heat, in the middle of the street. As an omen or a metaphor, it is particularly effective.
Set during one of Argentina’s darkest periods, the crippling financial crisis in the early years of the 21st century, when the country had rolling blackouts and water shortages, we follow Natalia, her girlfriends, Mariela, and Josefina, and her would-be boyfriend Diego as they avoid what is going on in their country. They chat on ICQ in internet cafes, and listen to CDs in overheating apartments, occasionally escaping to the mall or a public pool.
When Diego brings Sylvia, a more experienced and older woman (who reads Vonnegut and knows how to get into to all the cool nightclubs, and is edgy enough to pick up teenagers in burgeoning online spaces) into summer vacation circle, it triggers a wave of insecurity and jealous fury in Natalia. The film simmers and roils in Natalia’s headspace in a variety of sharp visual ways; slow zooms, and long lens closeups of while the world moves around her passive stillness.
Set during one of Argentina’s darkest periods, the crippling financial crisis in the early years of the 21st century, when the country had rolling blackouts and water shortages, we follow Natalia, her girlfriends, Mariela, and Josefina, and her would-be boyfriend Diego as they avoid what is going on in their country. They chat on ICQ in internet cafes, and listen to CDs in overheating apartments, occasionally escaping to the mall or a public pool.
When Diego brings Sylvia, a more experienced and older woman (who reads Vonnegut and knows how to get into to all the cool nightclubs, and is edgy enough to pick up teenagers in burgeoning online spaces) into summer vacation circle, it triggers a wave of insecurity and jealous fury in Natalia. The film simmers and roils in Natalia’s headspace in a variety of sharp visual ways; slow zooms, and long lens closeups of while the world moves around her passive stillness.
To get out of the city, Sylvia shows the group to an abandoned quarry, where a freshwater lake has formed, and is a way to get out of the pressure of the city. However the idyllic location provides a space for sexual competition, where Natalia stands little chance. Natalia’s two friends, are often perfectly framed on either side of her, smoking in the sun soaked lakeside, as accomplices or witnesses to Diego’s betrayal.
Meanwhile at home, Natalia’s Aunt (her adopted mother), has also taken in the young son of her housekeeper (who is in the hospital from life threatening illness) and seems to be reconnecting to her own former lover, who has moved in under his own circumstances. Pushing further responsibilities on Natalia in the midst of her collapsing chances with Diego, what was supposed to be the ‘perfect summer’ in that very specific idle moment between high-school and real life, now has gone downhill to her own personal hell. Her Aunt at one point remarks, “How many bad people exist in the world, and yet the sun still rises?” Natalia takes this to heart, perhaps too much, as her teen angst and drama take some dark turns here in provocative ways.
The Virgin of The Quarry Lake, subtly mixes elements from Y Tu Mamá También and Carrie, into a original, and stylishly low-key pressure cooker. It stays well grounded in its social and dramatic milieu, while dangerously flirting into horror territory. A late shot in the film will show the ‘other’ side of the quarry as a garbage dump and failed real-estate development, turned poverty camp, while Natalia discovers something more supernatural and sinister.
The film begs difficult questions of class, morality, and sexual entitlement, only through the vessel of a young woman in a virgin space of all possibilities; at that age unanswerable and instinctual. Casabe’s eye for detail and framing, along with a sublime performance from Dolores Oliverio, and an interesting reflection of that era of Argentina’s history make for a heady brew.
The Virgin of The Quarry Lake, subtly mixes elements from Y Tu Mamá También and Carrie, into a original, and stylishly low-key pressure cooker. It stays well grounded in its social and dramatic milieu, while dangerously flirting into horror territory. A late shot in the film will show the ‘other’ side of the quarry as a garbage dump and failed real-estate development, turned poverty camp, while Natalia discovers something more supernatural and sinister.
The film begs difficult questions of class, morality, and sexual entitlement, only through the vessel of a young woman in a virgin space of all possibilities; at that age unanswerable and instinctual. Casabe’s eye for detail and framing, along with a sublime performance from Dolores Oliverio, and an interesting reflection of that era of Argentina’s history make for a heady brew.