This strange short film, "The Virgin Herod", deals with a teenager who has severe bodily illnesses, symptoms ranging from nasty boils to excessive blood loss and hair falling out. Because of the film's exaggerated depictions of his problems, which would have left the boy dead before the movie ended, I assume he was either dreaming all this, or on heavy hallucinogens, or maybe i'm just over-thinking it all. Either way, the boy gets invited by his long-time crush to a party, albeit somewhat hesitant to do so. The boy on the other hand eagerly agrees, but is greeted with some pretty strange events at the party which I won't spoil. Eventually he finds the girl who's happy to see him, but soon after, the film's over. I believe what the film was trying to do is accurately depict the pain of having a crush you know you cannot obtain, but try anyway realizing the outcome is not in your favor. As the film progresses, the boy gets worse and worse, probably because he gets more and more anxious the closer he gets to the girl, making the pain all that more unbearable, and it literally shows what he's feeling on the inside, but so the audiences can experience it too. Rather it's a dream, drugs, or everything was real, i still believe he's not actually having these problems, rather it's a physical interpretation of what's happening inside him. I really enjoyed the premise of the film, although if more back story was given on both of the main character, I would have had more of a connection with the boy and his internal troubles. All in all, great premise, just too short to fully capture the emotional atmosphere these two characters inhabit.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
