NZIFF - Vivarium

A gripping dystopian nightmare to surpass the very best Black Mirror episodes, Vivarium centres on Gemma (Imogen Poots) and Tom (Jesse Eisenberg), a young couple who dream of purchasing a first home. After meeting Martin, a rather odd real estate agent, they agree to visit a surreal new housing development called ‘Yonder’.

This ultimate version of suburbia takes a sinister turn when Gemma and Tom realise no matter how hard they try to leave, they keep returning to the same place. Soon, they discover they have no way of communicating with the outside world. All the other homes appear to be empty. Forced to act like real-life Sims as their dream home becomes more prison-like with each passing day, they eventually welcome someone – or something – else into their desperate situation.

Lorcan Finnegan’s debut feature, Without Name, was an eye-catching ecological spook fest that never veered off into predictable Hollywood formula, and this impressive follow-up will only raise his stock as a director of superior genre cinema. Smart and unexpected, Vivarium is the logical antidote to the overblown drivel that big budget spandex studio tentpoles vomit on the apathetic public. — AT

Ireland/Belgium 2019
Director: Lorcan Finnegan
98 minutes/M violence, offensive language, sex scenes & nudity

Tickets are available online through Ticketek, from the front desk at MTG or the box office at the Napier Municipal Theatre. Door sales will also be available at the MTG Century Theatre one hour prior to the screening.

Rating: M - recommended more suitable for mature audiences 16 years and over.

Presented by: New Zealand International Film Festival.