Vivarium is a 2019 science fiction thriller about a house-hunting couple who end up being shown a home located in a labyrinth of a cookie cutter neighborhood and then abandoned by the real estate agent with no way out.
Starting the film with baby birds getting knocked out of their nest by a cuckoo bird trying to take over is an odd way to begin though certainly sets a tone for writer and director Lorcan Finnegan‘s Vivarium. With only a little knowledge of a young couple, we meet Gemma (Imogen Poots) and Tom (Jesse Eisenberg), their compatibility together labeled as weirdos (as they call themselves). They decide to find their perfect home. This leads them to the office of Yonder, run by Martin (Jonathan Aris), who awkwardly gets the couple to go visit one of his houses. As they drive into the rows of green tinted lots, each identical to each other, they eventually come upon number 9, which includes a baby’s room. Not long after, Martin disappears and the couple are strangely abandoned, unable to find their way out. A box arrives full of necessities and then another, this one with a baby inside. Their job is to raise it.
Vivarium is a slow-burn. It’s purposefully bizarre, making this couple, who consider themselves odd already, to be the normal ones, thrust into this deserted suburban nightmare. Where Finnegan deserves credit is maintaining dark humor, furthered by feelings of hopelessness. This works, though movie tries using uniformity as a creepy environmental factor, yet the only creepy thing about the second act is the timeline of the child, which offers a hint to how long they’ve been trapped. The kid is equally strange, imitating their voices. This has potential for some real frights but mostly it feels a tad repetitive, dragging the story out longer than needed, the mystery of the kid not as sustainable as it intends.
On a technical level, things improve. Most notable are the colors with rich greens and blues, painting the world like something out of a story book fantasy. This keeps it at an obvious distance, accentuating the themes of abandonment and loneliness. There are some captivating shots from above as Gemma and Tom drive around this labyrinth of houses, trying but not finding their way out. Then there are images pulling away and moments where characters are centered as to show a lack of control. It gets fairly deep.
Vivarium has a small cast with Poots especially impressive. As Gemma, she commit with great heart, even with slow moments where the camera spins a lot of context out of her emotions. It’s a good performance. While Eisenberg has a lesser role, he nonetheless has some powerful moments. Noteworthy is also Aris’ good work as Martin, finding just the right bit of dark humor.
There’s a lot to appreciate about Vivarium, though it’s asuradley not a film for everyone. A strong start help but lags in the center slog it down before the final act kicks in with some nice style. It’s probably a movie that could benefit from a few more viewings, but who knows. Maybe there’s just too much going on in Vivarium to matter.