In the Quarry

This is an intimate drama/thriller about three men and one woman (all under age thirty) spending a summer day together at a flooded quarry. The woman is the girlfriend of one of the men but is cheating on him with the second man. The third man is there mainly to make sure that the risky encounter doesn’t come off as all that unlikely (which is not entirely successful). The film is based on the distorted nature of the characters, their escalating relationships and conflicts, long dialogues, solid acting performances, limited locations, a few low-cost props, and the slow build-up of nervous tension and an atmosphere full of insecurity, grimaces, suspicion and threats. This amounts to quite an impressive performance with minimal resources, but you still can't hide the fact that most of the film is above all a long wait for something to finally happen, and frankly not that much ends up happening. A few scenes, however, are worth the wait. (11/10/2019)

In the Quarry offers the psychologically well-portrayed escalation of tension between four people at a picnic. Female stupidity stimulates male jealousy, leading to a group tragedy. Unfortunately, too little happens here for a feature film and, moreover, it happens too slowly. After all, it is not Polanski, but a pure genre film in which we are used to seeing such conflicts escalate even further and more intensely. [Sitges FF] (12/10/2019)