Review: Vivarium

Vivarium is a sci-fi, horror, mystery movie that stars Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots, and it’s the second feature length film of director Lorcan Finnegan, who co-wrote the film with Garret Shanley.

The film is about a young couple, Tom (Eisenberg) and Gemma (Poots), who are looking to buy a house, but end up trapped in a mysterious labyrinth-like neighborhood of identical homes in an empty suburban development called “Yonder.”

Once in Yonder, and after finding no way to escape, the couple wake up to find a baby in a box with the instructions: “Raise the child and be released.” The couple then finds that the baby grows faster than any human child should, and a lot of creepy things take place.

The premise of the movie is actually very good, because it sets up a very interesting and tense situation. However, the story overall fails due to a couple of major flaws. One of them being that, in spite of a very clever setup, the world does not feel thoroughly thought out.

Now the movie is classified as, and has the feel of, a sci-fi movie, but actually isn’t. Sci-fi stories lay out a series of rules for their world, and everything in that world is obligated to follow them. That way it’s possible to explain “how” and “why” things are happening in that world. In Vivarium, there’s no explanation or logic behind the “how” or “why” of things, other than the feeling that the only reason a lot the things that were happening was because the creators thought “wouldn’t it be creepy if X happened here?.” In this sense it is actually closer to a fantasy than sci-fi. Which normally would not be a bad thing, except that it’s set up as a sci-fi, and that leaves the audience unsatisfied with the logic.

The other major flaw is that, after the movie sets up the story in its tensest, creepiest, most interesting situation, it starts to die down. Like the story ran out of steam. Which is crazy. The hour of buildup to the situation where things can really get going, is completely wasted because nothing is done with it. The climax falls definitely short in comparison to that moment, the characters barely change, their actions don’t change, the situation barely changes, nothing major really changes. In fact, the stakes are actually diminished. So the catalyst for advancement was pointless. And since nothing relevant changes, from that point forward the movie drags on to a slow, and predictable death.

To be fair the movie does have a few good, maybe even great, things going for it. Visually the movie is very aesthetically pleasing. The art department did an amazing job creating the world of “Yonder,” managing to make it feel real and fake at the same time. I was particularly impressed with how they committed to even making dirt look bizarre and alien, which I thought was a great touch.

The sound design was also great, and it added to most of the creepiest moments in the film. The manipulations of the Boy’s voice, the alien sounds coming from the television, even the eerie overall silence of Yonder all added to the disturbing experience of being stuck there.

Another bright point in the movie are its performances. Poots puts on a solid and charming performance, in spite of having a lackluster character dealing with an interesting conundrum. The work of the Boy and the real estate agent, Martin, are also fantastic. With both of them leaving you feeling disturbed and uneasy whenever they are on screen. On the other hand, Eisenberg, in spite of putting on a respectable performance, felt like a complete miscast. Eisenberg is better suited for the role of “the awkward intellectual,” while this role called for more of a goofy, blue-collar guy who’s desperately trying to fix the situation with his hands, and is going crazy due to feeling impotent. Eisenberg did a good job, but didn’t fit that mold and made the character seem fake. And the character’s backstory wasn’t really a relevant thing. So why they wouldn’t change it to fit Eisenberg more is beyond me.

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Overall, the movie is well made, and it is successful in delivering very disturbing moments. However, it never reaches its full potential, and the story runs out of steam way short of the climax and the finish line.