Vivarium

*Possible Spoilers* Otherwise funny people move to the suburbs, have a perfectly normal child and instantly regret it. Child grows up, gets a shitty conformist job and leaves the parents for dead. This movie should be called 'Modern Parenthood'.

A meticulously cohesive Sartrian set-piece in a refurshbished Twilight Zone aesthetic. This is concept-heavy arthouse at its best. The viewer is immersed in the banality of domestic life and its tired symbols. Despite that, the film is never boring. Perhaps it's the oppressive, uncanny weirdness or just the outstanding acting performances, but this film enthralls and strings you along so you can find out what's (literally) at the bottom of it all. It's like a modernized symbol-heavy Blue Velvet.

Let's be honest, most movies acknowledge this reality, they just give a release from it. Remember the beginning of Nobody? That's this movie in about four minutes. That doesn't make this bad, but I only need so many reminders. That four minutes in between rounds of Fortnight adds up to how much wasted time you ask as you willfully ignore the minutes you are playing are no less a waste. I don't know. I'm talking to you through mini-reviews on a niche movie site. Maybe I'm not real. Vivarium!

A totally and completely boring movie that inexplicably held my attention and I couldn't stop watching

Dull, long-winded tease which maintains interest for a while, thanks to Eisenberg and Poots' convincing performances (and some nice "creepy kid" work from Jennings), as well as a genuinely intriguing premise, ripe with satiric possibilities; unfortunately the screenplay wavers between explaining too much and too little - unnecessary effort is made to explain how the "trap" works, but the explanation doesn't make much sense! Gets a bad chuckle at the finale for Eisenberg's on-the-nose metaphor.

I like these types of movies, even if the film barely presents new ideas after the first act. Fair warning that it’s not the most conventional or enjoyable movie out there. It’s a fairly depressing and hopeless experience, with solid actors and interesting ideas holding it up. It’s not for everyone, but I enjoyed it for what it was. It could’ve been more adventurous in the last act though.

Even if the ending was easily guessed after a certain point I still enjoyed the ride because it was sufficiently weird with a cool idea. Despite the fact that the visuals are samey (given the premise) I thought it was still interesting in that sense. Good use of colours and composition in order to make it endearingly drab. Poots was the star here but Eisenberg was good too. Could have been done better but the mystery of the whole thing was enough to make me want to watch it unfold.

Great first act, solid mystery set-up...poor 2nd and 3rd act. Its just weird and the mystery introduced in the beginning is mostly shelved for later, which personally, I thought was an incredibly poor narrative choice.

I like my social satire with a little more finesse, but sometimes it seems you need to spell it out. There'll probably still be lots of people with big question marks over their heads...while pushing through dead end jobs until they're allowed to die, their lonely, frustrated wives getting drunk at home and their alienated kids raised to be hollow consumers by strange new media of all shapes and sizes. But heck, that's just the way things are, right?

While "Vivarium" succeeds at producing an extremely unsettling atmosphere, it does so while neglecting the horror and mystery. I think if Finnegan had spent a little more time exploring the story, rather than trying to weird us out with that kid, I'd have enjoyed this a lot more. It probably doesn't help that I find Eisenberg just as irritating as the screaming kid.

I'm surprised at some of the hate Vivarium gets. Its Lynchian without going to the incoherent extremes of Lynch. And it is just as creepy and uncomfortably funny as anything Lynch ever made. And it is strangely engrossing, despite a largely static second act. Vivarium is far from perfect, but it is original, entertaining, and leaves questions to ponder.

If I ever need a movie that's a collection of great ideas and plot developments and a sum of a boring mess, this will be my example. If only Twilight Zone came up with this, it would have been a tight 40 minutes with a decent lead couple. Instead of a dragging hour forty movie with Imogen and Jesse having the same chemistry as me and my ex's after we break up. If the ending scenes were expanded on and happened earlier this movie could have filled its run time. But in the end, waste of potential

Takes forever and doesn't stick any sort of landing. Tedium.

The premise, given in the trailer, is simple: a couple are trapped in a suburban new-build and have to raise a child to get out. I was hoping for clean-framed visuals and witty dialogue, but Vivarium only delivers the former. The film is essentially a film student's pretentious metaphor about cuckoos. It touches on themes of parenting and life cycles, but fails to deliver anything interesting. A creepy child, a frantic ending and a wry wink to the audience don't ingratiate this film at all.

Interesting at times, but mostly filled with heavy handed allegories that offer nothing new.

The trailer was intriguing enough to reel me in. Interesting for the most part, but ultimately too much was left up in the air. The ending works for the story, but the question of why or how is never answered. Could have been an Outer Limits episode. The creepy ass kid is probably the best part.

Plot is too thin and littered with holes.

Just plain creepy (and boring). Aliens mimicking & observing humans in order to live among them and wait for them to literally & metaphorically dig their own graves. The end result was a replacement of one dying alien with another in order to perpetuate an endless real estate trap. I hated that there was no additional explanation or meaning. Poor execution. Will not rewatch or recommend and I love Sci-Fi.

An awful, boring, empty movie with zero redeeming qualities.

Works much better than Jordan Peele's desperate stabs at similar Twilight Zone tropes. Also, the perfect way to get yourself in the mood for digging a hole.

Bizarre, unsettling, but ultimately felt more like an episode of Black Mirror than something that could carry a feature length successfully. The ending felt a little bit like the writers ran out ideas after the set up and the general build up of tension. I'm not entirely sure what alternative there would have been though.

The idea is good for a TV episode for some supernatural series. It's not movie material.

Creepy tale of parenthood, maybe. Some of the themes were slightly muddled, while others definitely hit very close to home for a recent patent as myself. Flipping off your child never felt more satisfying.

The characters are caught in a tedious, inescapable, soul-sucking suburban hellscape... but it can't possibly be worse than the experience of watching this endlessly annoying movie.

Felt like a feature length episode of X-files. I'm not sure if the subject content really warranted the runtime. I would have liked to see more of a "Splice" approach with the character dynamics but that didn't really happen. By the end, characters weren't really invested in each other and neither was I. Second to last sequence in the film was outstanding, but extremely short-lived.

It's sci-fi I guess and the premise promises so much but delivers so little. I've been waiting for something - just around the corner ... nope. So it's got that going for it, keeping interest, but that's a bad argument for a decent movie. It's also not a happy movie so I guess it'll never have a high score on IMDB. Anyway, this idea could be told much better but the writing was bad, I think.

Pointless sci-fi. Okay we are trapped, so?

Interesting concept, could be better. It broke so many rules but couldn't handle it. There are lots of things missing; disappointed.

Strange movie with seemingly no point, but it kept my interest the whole time. I'd say sci-fi/horror fans only need apply.

They should broken into an adjacent house at some point and found it was an empty shell. Channels backrooms a little

Largely pointless yet immensely immersive. I liked the visuals.

Vain and plastic, but It may work as a short movie. 15-20 minutes are enough (and technically they didn't feed it (as food was delivered) and coocoo doesn't kill its parents)

Just so disturbing, good, but disturbing, too close to reality. Truly a horror for me.

F**** up movie. Original, but so many stones left unturned, which for me is a big problem. Had potential to be a great movie, but poorly written.

Starts of really well, but can't hold itself together till the end. The first act is really strong, the acting is good and the first 10 minutes with the child is just amazing, but after that, the story is not good enough to hold it all together, and then comes to a very mediocre ending. Still, it's an ok watch and has decent atmosphere.

terrible movie filled with annoying screaming non stop. absolutely no point. avoid

It works as a satire of middle-class suburban life...the Lynchian imagery feels at home here: we're all just waiting to be 'released'.

I thought it was intriguing. I guess I'm one of the few who thinks that. [Full review]

watchable

Suburbicon directed by Lanthimos.

Unsuccessful but always interesting.

eng; [vivarium]; ein paar kommt zu einem immobilienmakler, doch nach einer besichtigung können sie von den modellhäusern nicht mehr weg - ein langweiliger alltag beginnt.; (ultra boring, aquarium adaption eines menschen beobachtenden aliens);

Very eerie, novel concept, well-supported by cinematics, well-acted. Character's aren't deep, but they don't need to be and this in fact ties in with the movie premise.

Doesn’t really go anywhere

An interesting concept that is wasted by lackluster execution.

I'd never heard of this film until now, which having now seen it, confirms once again that most people are incapable of appreciating films that communicate an important message about our current anthropocenic crises and in a way that genuinely makes the viewer uncomfortable. I might have a warped perception of reality, but the story here is what I see in most people with kids these days. Unfortunately, these people are unlikely to watch the film as their kids are screaming or woofing at them.

The average American suburb.

Average

I like the paranormal mystery part of it but the pace is too slow and the message just feels too vapid. Also, maybe slightly too much screeching.

It's... Alright. The setting and the performances are good, but its cyclical nature, by design, makes it hard to care.

I liked the atmosphere of the film. It has that eerie feeling to it the whole way through. First act was strong, but it did fall off quite fast. I found the plot to be pretty thin and weak, almost as if it wanted to offer us a lot but gave us much less.

Super creepy, in a good way. Doesn't justify the runtime, however.

A nightmarish look at parenthood. Fun but flat.

Its one of those, its not gonna make complete narrative sense, free form, idea is the point sorta deals. Its basically a horrific satire of married family life. Not narratively complex but it sells its point, some would say too on the nose but i dont see that as massively a problem, i didnt really feel like the movie was assuming i was stupid by cringely over explaining, it just wore itself on its sleeve. thats fine. Anyway, Did enjoy, worth watching. tad better than meh.

In the mood for a weird movie that will give you lingering depression? This is just what you want!

Rubbish

7??????????????

I don't really see the horror in this one at all. Quite weird that is for sure and I like that and it had some good scenes but in the end it just felt empty.

This movie was a disappointment. The idea was really cool, and that's... about it. Pretty much what you know about the movie before seeing it is the only cool part of the movie. The majority of the movie is spent on these weird and disturbing horror-esque ideas, and despite good acting from Jessie and Imogen, the story was just really poorly designed. I don't recommend watching this, even as just a rental.

I appreciated the critique of "social contracts" and it was well-acted. But a little heavy handed and cliche… C

??????? ?????

#21#, exp3, rw2, story, Imogen.P!

A lovely weekend away to Milton Keynes

Kapana kisilmak, anı yer, çıkış yok, bebek, çift, emlak, villa SPOILER The room (2019) filmiyle büyük benzerlik gösteriyor. Emlakçının peşinden Villa görmeye giden çift emlakçının ortadan kaybolmasıyla evden ayrılır fakat bir türlü o bölgeden ayrılmazlar. Biraz Alice Harikalar diyarı tadında. Maalesef mutlu son ile bitmiyor. Kendilerine verilen bebek-çocuk-adam sinir bozucu. Filmi beğendim aslında ama neden sorusuna cevap bulamadığım için ortalama bir puan verdi

Refreshingly unique and truly unsettling. Don't trust the bad reviews from people who want movies to always explain every little detail.

deu um medinho

cool flick

What was that? Et?

It's a bit too on the nose, but all in all enjoyable. Poots is great.

iyi bir uzaylılık temsili iyi bir katman gezişi iyi bir bitiş şarkısı

Too long, but I couldn't stop thinking about it for a few days....

birds are mean.

-Rüzgarı hatırlıyor musun Gemma? -Buraya gelmeden önce -Rüzgar harikaydı -Ne kadar sevdiğimi farketmemiştim.

İlginç mistik neo-noir. Ev almaya giden 1 çift, bir emlakçıyla ilginç renkte boyanan villalara götürür. Villaları gezdiren emlakçı kaybolur. Evlerden çıkış yolu bulunamayıp hapsolur. Jesse Eisenberg ve Imogen Poots'un filmi sırtladığı ve merakta bırakan ilginç sonuyla kendini izletiyor. Filmin sonunda, evde kapana kısılıp kurtulamıyorlar. Alice artık burada oturmuyor.

It looks like an extended version of Black Mirror. That's why it brings the qualities and defects that this type of format brings, such as raising many questions but not answering them in the end. However, the whole experience is very efficient and disturbing.

Bollocks to this film for taking the lazy route and not offering any explanation. Intriguing and well-acted, but this cheap trope left an unpleasant aftertaste for me.