For one young boy, pimples have become a problem in Fernando Alle’s delightfully gross four-minute short film Pimple ‘Borbulha’, playing at Fantasia Festival, but one of those pimples is also about to become his saviour.
Puberty sucks! Not only do you start growing before your brain has time to catch up, but your hormones cause havoc, leading to pimples, acne, sweat and a sexual overdrive that both enthrals, confuses and demands your undivided attention. Add to this peer group pressures, the need to belong, and a whole host of new confusing emotions and thoughts, and adolescence is often a strange cocktail of a need for independence, discovery, moodiness and unspoken fear. For one young boy, pimples have become a problem in Fernando Alle’s delightfully gross four-minute short film Pimple ‘Borbulha’, but one of those pimples is also about to become his saviour.
For this boy, the school corridors are a gauntlet of bullying and abuse, and he fears one older group of boys more than anyone else. As he looks in the school bathroom mirror, he knows his pimples are getting worse, and one in particular has grown to a size he hasn’t seen before. Hoping the corridors outside are silent, the boy attempts to cover the pimple with his hair and walks out into the school jungle. Thankfully, the corridors are quiet until the group he fears the most steps out in front of him, taunting him and laughing at his pimples. But this group is about to make a huge mistake as they prod him and poke the biggest pimple on his face.
Utterly gross, wickedly sharp and delightfully funny, Fernando Alle’s story of a toxic pimple, a sebum monster and a gang of bullies about to meet a sticky end is a pure delight. Combining practical effects with animation and performances that revel in the gore and gloop, Alle’s story also has a profound message at its heart. Yes, puberty sucks, and yes, pimples can make you feel like an outsider. Still, you, like everyone else your age, are just cooking, and in the end, all the shit that makes up your teenage transformation will be gone. You will emerge a new person, unlike the arseholes who bully you, who will always be arseholes and as time goes on, they will probably end up looking like one too.
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