**** Warning – Slight spoilers in the third paragraph. *****
I was a fan of the first two acts but I was disappointed in the resolution in the third. I actually did not have a problem with how the filmmakers were trying to end it, I just felt that the execution was sloppy.
The movies felt like it was meant to be an artistic expression with a social motive. My father-in-law put it well a few months back at the opening of his art exhibit – sometimes an artist creates work that has a clear message that the viewer is supposed to interpret from the piece and sometimes the whole point of the piece is to raise questions about a certain topic or situation. Vivarium feels like its stuck in-between which causes it to fall flat at the end for me.
That being said, the movie did cause me to jump up and have a conversation with my son who had watched it the day before. We had a great conversation the what the film was trying to say about families and the circle of life, how the main characters seemed to be stuck in another dimension that worked as a metaphorical hell, and how the bird at the beginning was foreshadowing for the film to come. What never came up in the conversation was what it seems the filmmakers intended (according to an interview I just noticed on Letterboxed): THE HOUSING CRISIS! WTF! I mean I see it now but that feels a little on the nose and is exactly what I was talking about when I said the third act did not stick the landing.
Worth a watch because its fun to talk about.
