Vivarium - 2019

I had a feeling I didn't like when I contemplated writing this review. I had a feeling that I'd been writing more and more reviews of recent movies, as in incredibly recent, like post 2000. But I can't really find a ton a data to backup that feeling, so I'm writing this review anyways.

I went into Vivarium expecting a horror film, basically, and then from the tone I thought maybe it was instead a weird offbeat comedy. The truth is it's sort of both, as well as a thriller, mystery, and compelling drama. The original feeling it illicits is the reason behind my review here, and the inability to pin this movie down or truly compare it with anything is again one of the reasons why I would say it deserves mention. My prevalence of post-2000 reviews aside.

Vivarium stars Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots. Is Imogen Poots the worst name imaginable? If the answer is no, it's high on the list for contendership. Either way, early on they are talked into checking out a home for sale in a community of identical awful color green homes. They highly dislike the neighborhood and the salesman, who's giving very odd vibes and who acts in an irregular fashion. When the couple come out of the house they realize the salesman and his car are gone, and when they try to leave the neighborhood there is no way out. They try what they can to escape as the days pass by, and eventually a box containing a baby boy shows up at their front door with the eerie message "Raise him and you will be let go".

The odd incapturable tone of this is really unique and despite the fact that this would be a fools errand and be irrelevant aside, I tried desperately to think of what movie's it had reminded me of. I thought of none. The best I could do would be to think of the independently made movies that similarly felt like nothing else that exists, movies like Under the Skin, Frank, and maybe The Lobster. Vivarium is in no way thematically or even tangentially related, except that they all stand out as unique, thoughtful experiments.

If movies like this ever stop being made, I'll lose interest in film. This is why I watch movies man. That may be the biggest sell of all time, but it's true. Weird, offbeat, highly original ideas like this (not even including the execution, which was perfect) are what keeps me in theaters, getting stuff at libraries, and keeps me engaged. I'll be watching whatever this director does in the future for sure.