Vivarium, is an intriguing film that builds a lot of interesting pieces throughout its story, the performances from Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots are solid. the films biggest strength comes from its world building, we see a story built on imagery and careful cinematography. the concept it has is very unique and I liked the way it was explored throughout its first two acts, building a tense atmosphere and surrounding us in an environment that is sickly perfect, as the director states: The area that the characters are trapped in is one which humans dream of: A nice quiet neighbourhood, and a family, however it lacks the love and soul that the experiences of human life bring to these places, which creates that eerie atmosphere. The director succeeds in implementing that vision and praise must be given for that.
However, the thing that truly annoys me about this film is its third act, it seems to be a film that stacks all these dominoes and you're waiting for all of them to fall, but they never really do, leaving us with a lacklustre ending, where it seems the director was trying to leave the story up for interpretation, but in the meantime, it doesn't feel as if it has earned that right yet, as they don't really give you enough information to go off to give a decent interpretation. I appreciate the risk that the film was attempting to take but it falls short of being truly captivating and giving us something to spend hours talking about, instead giving us an experience that was decent but doesn't transcend that barrier.
Overall, Vivarium has decent performances, cinematography and world building but the storytelling falters, making me underwhelmed and wishing it had been just a little bit better, where it could have been truly great. Nevertheless an OK film albeit a forgettable one.
However, the thing that truly annoys me about this film is its third act, it seems to be a film that stacks all these dominoes and you're waiting for all of them to fall, but they never really do, leaving us with a lacklustre ending, where it seems the director was trying to leave the story up for interpretation, but in the meantime, it doesn't feel as if it has earned that right yet, as they don't really give you enough information to go off to give a decent interpretation. I appreciate the risk that the film was attempting to take but it falls short of being truly captivating and giving us something to spend hours talking about, instead giving us an experience that was decent but doesn't transcend that barrier.
Overall, Vivarium has decent performances, cinematography and world building but the storytelling falters, making me underwhelmed and wishing it had been just a little bit better, where it could have been truly great. Nevertheless an OK film albeit a forgettable one.