“The Virgin of the Quarry Lake” is a brilliant, surrealist and expressionist film directed by Laura Casabe.
“The Virgin of the Quarry Lake,” debuted at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, perfectly encapsulates a weird, squirmy, angry, wonderful feeling of youth—the age where you are old enough to want to be grown but not old enough to understand the responsibility of growing. This film brings back vivid and haunting memories from high school. With scenes full of secrets and drama that grasp the viewer and shake them from moment to moment, the film maintains an atmosphere of gossip and lust which permeates the characters. With constant judgement from parents or friends “The Virgin of Quarry Lake” brings you into the world of a young adult who has just exited high school and is unsure of their place in the world.
The character drama is interspliced with scatterings of civil unrest and political discourse. There is a slow creeping fear throughout the film that the world could be turned upside down at any moment. The characters seem accustomed to the violence and brutality of this new revolution and try to maintain their sense of normal. The lens of a young adult is an interesting place to explore how revolutions and civil uprisings affect individuals. With the main character constantly unable to sleep yet living life as she normally would, the viewer sees a snapshot of real life.
The cinematography is otherworldly, with shots that make the audience unsure if they are witnessing reality or simply a dream. The editing is spectacular, with wonderful colors popping out of the screen or being dull when they need to, giving a good juxtaposition. The longer the film goes, the more unhinged it gets. With violent moments sprinkled throughout this teen drama, the ending and the start have the most graphic violence viewers will see in the whole film.
This film is full of wonderfully shocking scenes which will surprise and awe viewers until they are unable to stand. With a quick and light 90-minute runtime this film is sure to fly past and yet stick with viewers. Unfortunately, the future distribution of this film is unknown; it will most likely be at other major film festivals and we hope it will be picked up soon.
