My Review of "Vivarium"

Vivarium already looks weird in the trailers but that's what kind of attracted me to this movie. It looked totally strange and yet very intriguing and that's really how the movie plays. The movie plays around with concepts and makes you question what you watched by the end of the movie. There's a lot of ways to interpret this movie so here's my take.

This movie starts off creepy enough with a bird in a nest pretty much throwing baby birds and eggs out of the nest. It's totally creepy and makes you wonder what this movie has in store for you.

The main character is a woman named Gemma. She's a children's school teacher. She's and her boyfriend are looking to move into a place of their own and they kind of have some pressure on them because housing prices are going up.

They decide to go to a really odd real estate establishment where there's a really creepy weird guy trying to sell them on a house in a suburban neighborhood. The houses already look weird and artificial but to keep the movie going the couple checks it out.

When they get into the neighborhood they notice that not only is the real estate agent super weird but the house and neighborhood is really odd as well. They start exploring the house when all of a sudden the real estate agent disappears and they soon realize they get trapped in the same house. they can't even get out of the neighborhood.

Even more odd is that they're disassociated with society in general. They get no reception on their phones and no one lives in the neighborhood. They just get odd mysterious packages to keep them alive. Even worse there's a baby that gets placed in front of their house to take care of.

It is absolutely crazy, creepy and bizarre but that's the charm of this movie. I don't know why I was in such a mood to watch this but it hooked me in. You can tell that there are comparisons with how regular couples live their lives in suburbia with how they live in their fake house.

The two go absolutely crazy and some of the comparisons include Gemma's boyfriend Tom. He becomes obsessed with digging a hole not realizing what else is going on. It's sort of similar to people getting obsessed with their careers and not recognizing the needs of the people around them. Even the mysterious child that is bestowed on them seems to separate the two just like a real couple. Gemma takes care of the child believing that it's still a living being but Tom doesn't believe it's even human. Their differences in thought really tears them apart.

There's even questions about artificial aesthetics in life. The two sit in their car at times because it's the only thing that kind of reminds them of what's real. Everything about the artificial home feels fake and it really takes a toll on their psyche. They can do their worse but everything will always go back to normal. I liked that they took these details into account in the movie.

The child was kind of a crazy oddity. It is absolutely creepy and unpredictable. At any moment you start wondering what that kid is going to do. It's obviously not a human but you don't know what it's agenda is. I like how Gemma tries to trick the kid into giving her more information about the situation but it never really works. I wish they went a little deeper into this but that would be a much longer movie. Don't expect to get too much explained to you in this movie.

Overall, by the end of the movie I actually enjoyed the ride that this movie took me on. I don't think it's for everyone though. A lot of people will be turned off with this movie because it really doesn't explain anything. It's not clear and cut and you're going to have to make your own assumptions. I have to give this movie a 7.5 out of 10. I really enjoyed this one for some reason but again I don't think a lot of people will enjoy it as much as I did.