← Back to Reviews
in
Vivarium
Even the most logic-defying movie, has to offer one or two things: some kind of acceptable explanation for what we've just witnessed or an "And then I woke up" scene, which implies everything we've witnessed happened in someone's head. Unfortunately, we are offered neither of these things as the 2019 cinematic nightmare Vivarium comes full circle to its conclusion.
We are introduced to an ordinary couple named Gemma and Tom. Gemma (Imogen Poots) is a grade school teacher and her boyfriend, Tom (Jesse Eisenberg) is the school handyman/gardener. Gemma and Tom are planning to move in together and have an appointment at a real estate office to look at a house. They are greeted by a creepy real estate agent named Martin who takes them to a huge housing development called Yonder. The development is monstrously large and all of the houses look absolutely identical. Martin gives Tom and Gemma a brief tour of the house and disappears. Gemma and Tom are plunged into an unimaginable nightmare when they realize they are trapped in this labyrnth maze of homes that all appear to be empty.
The nightmare is given added layer when the day after their arrival, the couple find a baby in a box who begins imitating everything they say and do and ages while Tom and Gemma don't.
Director and screenwriter Lorcan Finnegan gets an "A" for imagination, but even the most imaginative and illogical story has to have some tiny basis in realism and there is nothing here for the viewer to hold on as a possible explanation for the bizarre goings-on. We see where the story is going when Tom climbs to the top of the house and he can see nothing but Yonder as far as the eye can see, and we can even accept when Tom decides to signal for help by burning the house down and it reappears just when they find the baby, but there's nothing else for the viewer to latch onto.
When Martin shows them the house, he goes to the fridge and shows them a housewarming gift of champagne and strawberries, the only contents of the fridge, but once Tom and Gemma accept what is happening to them, they seem to be eating every day. The house was virtually empty upon their arrival, but once the couple realize they're not going anywhere, the house suddenly supplies everything it needs.
We're confused as the level of acceptance that Tom and Gemma have regarding what's going on changes from scene to scene. We think they're going to fight what's happening when they refuse to name the baby...Tom won't even refer to him as "him", he uses the word "it", but when we see Tom produce a hole in the perfectly manicured lawn by throwing a cigarette butt on the lawn and decides the answer to getting out is in digging that hole, we know he has given up, and frankly, so has the viewer.
The story does eventually come full circle and offers a half-assed explanation for what we've witnessed, but it just left this viewer confused and aggravated. Finnegan employs first rate production values to this nightmare, but when nothing that happens making sense. we just don't care.
Even the most logic-defying movie, has to offer one or two things: some kind of acceptable explanation for what we've just witnessed or an "And then I woke up" scene, which implies everything we've witnessed happened in someone's head. Unfortunately, we are offered neither of these things as the 2019 cinematic nightmare Vivarium comes full circle to its conclusion.
We are introduced to an ordinary couple named Gemma and Tom. Gemma (Imogen Poots) is a grade school teacher and her boyfriend, Tom (Jesse Eisenberg) is the school handyman/gardener. Gemma and Tom are planning to move in together and have an appointment at a real estate office to look at a house. They are greeted by a creepy real estate agent named Martin who takes them to a huge housing development called Yonder. The development is monstrously large and all of the houses look absolutely identical. Martin gives Tom and Gemma a brief tour of the house and disappears. Gemma and Tom are plunged into an unimaginable nightmare when they realize they are trapped in this labyrnth maze of homes that all appear to be empty.
The nightmare is given added layer when the day after their arrival, the couple find a baby in a box who begins imitating everything they say and do and ages while Tom and Gemma don't.
Director and screenwriter Lorcan Finnegan gets an "A" for imagination, but even the most imaginative and illogical story has to have some tiny basis in realism and there is nothing here for the viewer to hold on as a possible explanation for the bizarre goings-on. We see where the story is going when Tom climbs to the top of the house and he can see nothing but Yonder as far as the eye can see, and we can even accept when Tom decides to signal for help by burning the house down and it reappears just when they find the baby, but there's nothing else for the viewer to latch onto.
When Martin shows them the house, he goes to the fridge and shows them a housewarming gift of champagne and strawberries, the only contents of the fridge, but once Tom and Gemma accept what is happening to them, they seem to be eating every day. The house was virtually empty upon their arrival, but once the couple realize they're not going anywhere, the house suddenly supplies everything it needs.
We're confused as the level of acceptance that Tom and Gemma have regarding what's going on changes from scene to scene. We think they're going to fight what's happening when they refuse to name the baby...Tom won't even refer to him as "him", he uses the word "it", but when we see Tom produce a hole in the perfectly manicured lawn by throwing a cigarette butt on the lawn and decides the answer to getting out is in digging that hole, we know he has given up, and frankly, so has the viewer.
The story does eventually come full circle and offers a half-assed explanation for what we've witnessed, but it just left this viewer confused and aggravated. Finnegan employs first rate production values to this nightmare, but when nothing that happens making sense. we just don't care.