Glasshouse

I know they tried hard and great stuff and all that for the effort. But really, this was like wading through quicksand. Apparently this was filmed during the pandemic, and I'm not sure if this made a difference - everyone seemed to be sleep walking. Perhaps the entire crew thought they were in the Glasshouse too.

In short, a family is trapped in a Glasshouse after an apocalyptic event, and kill anyone who seeks refuge there. The bodies are germinated and used for their crops. Lots of rituals.

Not sure where the water came from. There are also no animals.

Of course, they're all bonkers, and the arrival of a stranger sets off another sequence of bonkers events, but reaallly slooowly.

The story of this films works on many levels. On its surface, it is a slowly unfurling story of a family surviving in isolation, protected from the physical threats of the airborne disease beyond their glasshouse home and of those infected by it. Each member of the family must navigate the changes to their dynamics and roles when a stranger joins them.

But nothing about this film is only surface level- it is also a story about story itself that explores how the stories we tell ourselves and believe (in families, in society) shape our sense of belonging and out actions, and how we are culpable in our decisions about the stories and histories we remember and those we choose to forget.

The film moves slowly, but this works well to create the slightly surreal feel of the environment and the family, to build the tension - which increasingly bubbles throughout, and to explore the rich themes presented. I found it really refreshing to be offered provoking themes and questions for consideration without being bashed over the head by them or spoken down to as a viewer.

I turned over many of these questions over in my head, revisiting moments from the film for days after I saw it.

The film is lovely to look at is well worth the watching.

This is a movie primarily about a small group of people and their interactions and relationships, essentially a psychodrama, with the key contextual element that everyone has some degree of memory loss. Given that, I didn't find it slow or boring, and I thought the execution was fine.

In a post-apocalpytic setting where there is a toxin in the atmosphere which causes memory loss, there has been a greenhouse which can produce enough oxygen to support at most six people, who belong to what is some combination of cult and family, where the six people with partial memory loss maintain their perceived grasp on reality by assiduously perpetuating an origin story about themselves whose veracity becomes progressively more apparent over the course of the movie.

This is a prickly slow burner with a gloomy atmosphere not unlike The Others. It's just incredibly refreshing to watch a film that isn't a reboot or a sequel or an adaptation or a remake. Just a solid original film. Acting is a bit patchy but the way the eerie story unfolds makes it all worth the watch.

There's a greenhouse, an oasis, behind the trees; it's a verdant paradise that has one bee; a cornucopia of pleasure; overflows with fleshy treasure; recycling and reclaiming endlessly.

A variation on a familiar scene, the performances are great but the intent and interpretation, along with some sizable pot holes and inconsistencies leaves it a little underwhelming.