Very spoilery so if you don’t want to know your destiny, stop reading now and flee while you still can… (You can read my 4-star review here.) Vivarium is about the inescapability of the humdrum existence that is suburbia, and particularly about society selling us that dream and the isolation that results (Tom and Gemma… Viva Vivarium! That ending and more… Read More
INTERVIEW: closing in on Vivarium director Lorcan Finnegan
Mortgages are so bizarre. It’s like even the words mort-gage, it’s like death gauge. Well, when are you going to die? Right. Okay. Oh, here’s some money. Lorcan Finnegan directed the gleefully terrifying Vivarium, a vivid (and scarily recognisable) vision of the inescapable horrors of family life and suburbia in a modern, capitalist society. Vivarium… INTERVIEW: closing in on Vivarium director Lorcan Finnegan Read More
Vivarium (London Film Festival 2019) 4 stars
A young couple looking for the perfect home find themselves trapped in a mysterious labyrinth-like neighborhood of identical houses. *** Read my interview with Vivarium director Lorcan Finnegan *** Everyone has their own line in the sand which they will not cross when it comes to settling down. Mine is those massive white canvasses with… Vivarium (London Film Festival 2019) Read More
Suburbicon 2.5 stars
Like the name of Suburbicon itself, the 1950s housing development where this story is set, this is a film made up of two separate elements that just don’t fit together. The 1950s period details are fun: the opening credits’ living breathing Suburbicon sales brochure, and the bold-patterned office fixtures and fittings, more than the oft-used… Suburbicon Read More
Viva 4 stars
“I turn you on. I turn everybody on!’ says Viva (Anna Biller) at a fancy dress orgy, as she tries to navigate her own sexual awakening in early 1970s LA, slowly realising that while the men she meets also love women’s sexual awakenings it’s not for the same reason. Viva starts and finishes the film as suburban… Viva Read More