64
Metascore
23 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 91Original-CinJim SlotekOriginal-CinJim SlotekWhile I already miss the experience of seeing these films in a theatre, Vivarium does evoke TV precedents, most notably Twilight Zone in the cleanness of its premise and the parsing out of dark details on a need-to-know basis.
- 83The Film StageJared MobarakThe Film StageJared MobarakI have to give the filmmakers a ton of credit here because they walk themselves to a point of no return as far as where things are heading and they do not blink. They lift the curtain to briefly show us the horrors beneath the sterile walls of this prison and let them exist as inevitability rather than something that can be altered.
- 80The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawVivarium is a lab-rat experiment of a film, with flat, facetious humour and a single insidious joke maintained and developed with monomaniacal intensity. In its way, this film is an emblem of postnatal depression and simple loneliness.
- 80CineVueJohn BleasdaleCineVueJohn BleasdaleIt’s open to debate whether this claustrophobic little parable means something. It’s devilishly clever but there’s a suspicion that this is beautiful calligraphy without words. And yet with the added circumstance of self-isolation, quarantine and quiet four-walled despair, Vivarium will undoubtedly resonate.
- 80Screen RantHannah HoolihanScreen RantHannah HoolihanVivarium is a wonderfully strange and gripping thriller that examines the stresses of homeownership and starting a family, perhaps all-too-soon.
- 70The New York TimesGlenn KennyThe New York TimesGlenn KennyThere’s a consistent inventiveness — and grim humor — to this treatment of a seemingly well-worn theme.
- 63The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzThe Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzVivarium is an exercise in wringing dry the audience’s emotions until we’re nothing but husks. For some, that could be appreciatively cathartic right about now. Myself, I felt little other than a deep and nagging depression.
- 50Slant MagazineHenry StewartSlant MagazineHenry StewartThis a parable about adulthood boasts deeply cynical takes on home, community, and childrearing.
- 50Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayLos Angeles TimesNoel MurrayFinnegan offers a vision of domesticity as a soul-sucking grind, done for the benefit of malevolent overlords. His film chills the mind more than the spine.