Details
- Director
- Writers
- Taglines
“You’re home, forever.”
GENRES
- Comedy
- Horror
- Mystery
- Sci-Fi
Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)
Rated R for language and some sexuality/nudity.
Some lines from film
Gemma: Did you see the boy?
Tom: No.
Gemma: He’s gone missing.
Tom: Well, so have we.
| Directed by | Lorcan Finnegan |
|---|---|
| Screenplay by | Garret Shanley |
| Story by | Garret Shanley, Lorcan Finnegan |
| Produced by | John McDonnell, Brendan McCarthy |
| Starring | Imogen Poots, Jesse Eisenberg |
| Cinematography | MacGregor |
| Edited by | Tony Cranstoun |
| Music by | Kristian Eidnes Andersen |
| Production companies | XYZ Films, Fantastic Films, Frakas Productions, PingPong Film, VOO, BeTV |
| Distributed by | Vertigo Releasing |
| Release date | 18 May 2019 (Cannes)27 March 2020 (Ireland) |
| Running time | 97 minutes |
| Countries | Ireland, Denmark, Belgium |
| Language | English |
| Budget | €4 million |
| Box office | $427,399 |
WARNING
MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS AHEAD!
The opening part of the film displays an avian brood parasite relying on others to raise their young. The brood parasite manipulates a host, either of the same or of another species, to raise its young as if it were its own, for example by having eggs resembling the host’s offspring. This behavior relieves the parasitic parents from the investment of rearing young. Some bird species mitigate the risk of egg loss by distributing eggs among a number of different hosts.
A film about abduction doesn’t go so well but this new sci-fi/horror hybrid “Vivarium” which is about a young couple( Jesse Eisenberg & Imogen Poots) who go property hunting but is actually cleverly abducted by the broker and is forced to raise a creepy pod person. It probably looks like this film is about a suffocating nature of marriage and parenting in the 21st century but the film proves otherwise.
“Vivarium” isnt exactly the funniest thing to watch, and not also because its super claustrophobic and very bleak at times. But to watch a pair of talented actors going through a phase of emotions in a tight space and the same day with same stuff going on, in a sub modern suburbia. Its pre-fabricated and insidious. The repetitive scenario exhausting the actors go through is very superb
Viewers are also left with a number of basic conceptual questions that are never really answered, because Tom and Gemma don’t waste much time talking their way through their problems. Is that lack of introspection supposed to mean something? It’s hard to tell, especially given how unyielding most of the movie’s dialogue is, like when Gemma wonderingly tells her child that “You’re a mystery, and I’m going to solve you.” Equally banal dialogue exchanges, like when she tells him that a dream is “all sorts of moving pictures in your mind, but no one else can see them,” also reminded me of the human sensitivity that’s often lacking from “Vivarium.” I know this movie is supposed to be about what it’s like to be sucked dry by social expectations … but does it have to be so empty, too?
Every moment in “Vivarium” is a frustrating synecdoche, since no single metaphor or image convey an idea that you probably couldn’t think up with yourself during an especially foul mood. Marriage is a prison; parenting is a scam; home ownership is a trap; and you’ll probably die alone, without a substantial legacy. Understood, but who cares? If all you can show me is what you think isn’t genuine, you leave me with zero idea about what you think authenticity looks like, or why I should care. “Vivarium” is the horror movie equivalent of Warhol’s Campbell’s soup cans: easy to reproduce, easier to forget.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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