Biosphere

Before screening this film at The Toronto Film Festival, the presenter asked the audience not to spoil it. This request limits the possibility of a thorough review, as there is not much that can be said about it's plot without giving away it's one trick pony.

Genre-wise, the film steers between sci-fi, drama and grotesque comedy, relying on a single outstretched joke that becomes quite tiresome after multiple iterations. Some members of the audience were laughing throughout, but it may have just as well been a coping mechanism to deal with content that wasn't entirely easy to stomach.

There wasn't any actual beginning or an end, just references to a backstory that was never fully explored. There was no resolution offered here either, making it feel as though the writers have given up halfway.

What did hold this together and stopped me from walking out (in addition to my middle row seat), was the excellent acting by Sterling K. Brown & Mark Duplass. They were extremely believable, despite the ridiculousness of the plot, adding to the overall atmosphere of discomfort that it evoked.

It's an interesting premise. The strength of this film is the way the setup and characters back stories are disbursed very gradually, a drip at a time, which keeps your attention. In the end though, the set up doesn't really matter a whole lot.

When the main thrust of the narrative becomes clear, rather than running with it and guiding us towards a memorable conclusion, the film chooses to go with blandness, presumably hoping we take the non-committal ending to be open and courageous, and not simply uninspired.

Good performances, good ideas, good direction. The story was just a little too weak for me.

There's a lot I like about Biosphere and a lot that didn't fit right for me. The obvious thing that works about this film are it's performances by Sterling K Brown and Mark Duplass. Brown brings a sturdiness to Duplass's humor, creating a great dynamic that is fun to watch and believable. Brown's character Ray provides a grounding to such a serious moment. Duplass's Billy brings the levity necessary to keep two guys in a small dome funny and fresh. Some of the dialog and plot points in this film are absolutely hilarious.

This film has a huge idea and a very small scope to demonstrate it. The choice to skip most of the exposition in how we got here is welcome. I enjoy not being spoon fed the situation, reading clues and attempting to discover what has happened and what will happen is much more satisfying. Throughout the film, I kept wondering "how will they wrap this up?" And they did so by leaving all of the plot points as loose ends which will bother many who watch Biosphere. I didn't mind this choice but the ending left me with a bit of a "then what?" Feeling.

It's hard to review this film without spoilers, but there is so much to the backstory that is never fleshed out, no flashbacks, no additional settings or characters. With such a small scope, some will be very aggrieved at this, others will be content like I was to explore what we do know. This scope hampers the development of place and time but enhances the interest in our two characters and their potential outcomes. The feeling of place in this movie is quite distinct but somewhat empty given our lack of outside knowledge.

Making a film that explores a theory becoming reality is incredibly challenging. Duplass and Brown are able to deliver on this tall, daunting task but it's not great by any stretch.

Sterling K Brown is always a pleasure to watch he is so good at his craft. This could easily have been a stage play with its simple yet thought-provoking ideas on gender, humanity and friendship. In fact, it probably would have received better reviews as a play! Mark Duplass creates a claustrophobic, moody atmosphere on a small set that focuses on big ideas. At the same time, it's ironic humour cuts through it's serious side. Leaving lots of unanswered questions, don't expect deeply researched scientific theory, nor good science fiction. I enjoyed it for the acting and deep it's ideas on gender and humanity.

A curious little indie that is delivered through key support from Mark and Jay Duplass, with Mark taking on co-leading man duties with the game Sterling K. Brown, debut feature film director Mel Eslyn's single location dramedy Biosphere is unlike anything you've likely seen before in ways both good and bad, with this high-concept genre bending offering one that provides a varying experience that ranges from engaging to irksome, often within the space of mere minutes between each up and down.

Set entirely in a small custom designed dome that survives off regular air supply and a dwindling supply of fish in a world where the last two humans alive are Duplass's Billy and Brown's Ray, long term friends and avid Super Mario players that found their successful careers in politics cut short by a catastrophic world event that has seemingly doomed mankind's future to an inevitable conclusion.

Saying too much more about how the slowly unravelling plot unfolds in Eslyn's film would be a disservice to viewers who are in for a wild and surprising ride, with an on face value buddy dramedy film far away from the product we actually get as we start to delve into evolutionary angles and life-changing scenarios that are wild, wacky and even at times tinged with a decent emotional heft, making Biosphere an experience that will enrapture others but alienate others, pending entirely on their tolerance and acceptance of where Billy and Ray's arcs begin to head.

In a day and age where originality can often be the subject of outcries in an industry many accuse of being too cookie cutter or people pleasing, it's always refreshing to see something like Biosphere come along and attempt to shake up expectations and go where no film has yet gone and while there are elements in Eslyn's film that feel familiar, for the most part the film does a solid job of carving out it's own pathway with the commitment of Duplass and Brown undeniable as the two talented leads chew on ample dialogue and play off one another in a series of situations that could've completely derailed the film at any moment.

For a film with such a limited scope in a setting sense no one could deny that Biosphere tries to tackle a series of big issues and high reaching concepts, some of which pay off and others that don't but for anyone that wants to watch something a little outside of the normal or too be expected, Biosphere may just be their new favourite with potential cult fandom soon to come its way.

Final Say -

A film that is best left to be discovered rather than explained prior to a viewing, Biosphere doesn't stick all of its landings but there's enough going on here including two notable lead turns to suggest Biosphere is worth visiting for open-minded viewers.

2 1/2 foot massages out of 5

Jordan and Eddie (The Movie Guys)