Talented and likable actors, an engaging albeit simple story - what else will this film surprise you with?

Aspiring Irish director Lorcan Finnegan came up with an original project and enlisted the support of Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots, who agreed to star in his film "Vivarium". The result is a rather engaging movie that you won't forget anytime soon.

A Simple but Solid Plot

At the center of the story is a young couple - elementary school teacher Gemma and working man Tom. All they dream of is finding a cozy home they can afford. They visit a local real estate agency, where they are met by an overly strange realtor who offers to show them a new suburban neighborhood called "Yonder." The area consists of endless rows of identical houses painted mint green. Soon, the realtor mysteriously disappears, and the heroes find themselves isolated in this "perfect" world. No matter where they go, their paths always lead back to the ill-fated house number 9.

The creators do an excellent job of placing the characters, and along with them the audience, in an unconventional setting and engaging them in trying to figure out what is going on. Moreover, to the credit of screenwriter Garrett Shanley, the intrigue is maintained until the very end, and the final scene feels logical within the given conditions.

The Metaphorical Nature of "Vivarium"

If there are no questions about the film's entertainment value, as the overall mechanism works well (intrigue, sets, actors, tension), then the thematic depth of "Vivarium" can and should be questioned. On the surface, there are three themes that clearly concerned the creators - the impact of isolation on the psyche, an assessment of the value of life for so-called middle-class people, and the human response to the forced necessity of raising children.

In the context of the first theme, the creators had wonderful opportunities to develop the characters, their essence, goals, and dreams. Instead, we got characters who absolutely do not evolve or change over time. They were not adapted to adult life at the beginning, and they remain that way until the very end of the story.

According to Finnegan and Shanley, the middle class consists of completely hopeless people whose only goal in life is to procreate. Their entire existence is subordinated to dreams of owning a home and preparing similar cogs for a meaningless system. However, the authors offer no attempts to reflect on this theme. They merely state what seems to them to be the ultimate truth. The creators of "Vivarium" see no hope and no light at the end of the tunnel for such people.

Perhaps the most interesting theme raised is the attempt to create a sketch in the vein of: "What if people have to raise a child that is not their own?" But here we return to the same problem of non-developing character arcs. The heroes played by Poots and Eisenberg are limited to the stage of denial and reflections on whether they are good people. Unfortunately, such a superficial approach to an interesting question completely undermines the entire endeavor.

Is It Worth Watching?

Of course, it is worth watching the film "Vivarium." It features talented and likable actors, an engaging albeit simple story, and the creepy character of the little boy is a true find by the filmmakers that will stick in your memory for a long time.