Sommerleigh Pollonais – Senior Writer
Vivarium: an enclosure, container, or structure adapted or prepared for keeping animals under semi-natural conditions for observation or study or as pets.
Don’t worry if you didn’t know what it meant, I had to look it up too.
Vivarium is one of those movies that seems interesting and weirdly cool on the surface. Things are strange from the word go, with visuals that are reminiscent of a Wes Anderson’s film that has been put through a nightmarish blender.
Jessie Eisenberg and Imogen Poots, two staples of independent movies like this one, give their all and I bet curiosity will be enough to keep viewers watching until the very end.
Sadly, this is one of those movies where nothing happens for about 90 mins of the runtime, and all of the goodwill built up by the first act is quickly burned away by a movie that’s basically nothing more than a metaphor for the life cycle of a relationship and the tribulations of being a mother (from dating, to parenthood and the strain of marriage/cohabitation puts on most people).
I think if Vivarium was trimmed down and tightly paced to fit into an episode of Black Mirror or The Twilight Zone I would’ve enjoyed it more. Ultimately, it’s a movie that’s being weird for weirdness sake, all style and no substance, and that’s just not good enough for me.
Also, whoever wrote this screenplay REALLY hates kids!
Score: 5 out of 10
For my Quick Bite Review of The Invisible Man you can click here.
Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever and I’ll be talking about movies until the zombie apoclaypse come.
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