Vivarium (2019)

By now we all have a good sense of what it’s like to be trapped at home indefinitely. Will we be allowed out by June? August? The year 2021? Or are we like a country full of tigers, doomed to live out our days in captivity?

As the days of quarantine and social isolation turn into weeks, then months, reality can start to feel like nothing exists outside of our four walls, outside of our own streets. Does the rest of the world even exist anymore?

In the case of Gemma (Imogen Poots) and Tom (Jesse Eisenberg), the answer is a solid NO. Vivarium (2019, Prime Video) was meant to be released theatrically in March, but thanks to everyone’s favorite virus it’s available to stream instead.

There’s not much to Gemma and Tom’s background info; they’re young, in love, and they’re looking to buy a house together (Awww). They’re like a nice, average, heteronormative couple full of so much optimism that they immediately trust a freaky real estate agent who works in an office that features nothing but identical houses. This agent takes them to a development called Yonder and shows them a move-in-ready house. By move-in-ready, I mean it already has a baby nursery painted blue (for a boy!), furniture, and clothes; well, t-shirts. The shady agent who is definitely not a weirdo leaves them without so much as a good-bye.