Just a Spoonful of Nocebo

The filmmakers behind Vivarium team up with Eva Green? HOW QUICKLY CAN I WATCH THIS?

Quick Plot: Christine is an ultra chic fashion designer specializing in children's clothing with the support of marketing executive husband Felix and their bratty daughter Roberta ("Bogs" to those she likes). Upon launching a new line, Christine receives an ominous phone call at work about a mysterious disaster. As she takes in the news, a mangy dog appears out of nowhere, shaking his dirt out and tossing a tick straight at her neck.

A few months pass and Christine has been knocked down a few pegs, both professionally and personally. As she tries to piece her career back together, a stranger shows up claiming to be a nanny hired by the forgetful Christine. She cooks well and has some quick panic attack-fighting tricks, so despite some hesitancy, Christine and Felix decide to let her stay.

Diana is Mary Poppins by way of the Philippines, only, as you will figure out quite quickly, a supernanny with her own motives. Played by Chai Fonacier with a sweet smile and astounding confidence, Diana is the perfect interloper to the colder Felix and flighty Christine. You can feel the walls start to come down and it's a marvel to see how easy it feels in Diana's capable hands. 

Lorcan Finnegan's Vivarium was one of my favorite watches a few years back, and it's a film that continues to grow on me whenever I think back on its themes and style. I came into Nocebo hearing fairly underwhelming reviews from the horror community and unfortunately, I can see why. This is a good film, and one made all the better by the playful performance of Fonacier and the utter perfection that is and has always been Eva Green. But there's a fundamental flaw to the storytelling that will require some spoilers to suss out.

Here's the thing that puzzled me about Nocebo: was I supposed to be surprised? Garret Shanley's script doesn't come out and tell us what caused Christine's initial breakdown, but it feels incredibly obvious 10 minutes in based on the very clear clues. Likewise, without knowing a single thing about Nocebo other than "possible evil nanny movie", I could tell you that Diana must have lost a child in the same tragedy that destroyed Christine's brand. 

This would be fine if the film had more to say or do after the revelation, but, well, it mostly doesn't. As the audience, we're challenged to figure out where our loyalty lies but by the time we reach the 'reveal,' it's hard (I hope) for anyone to still trust Christine as the victim. Overall, while there's a lot to admire about a film that takes a clear stand against inhumane labor conditions, the actual story in front of us just doesn't connect as well as it could without any real element of surprise. 

High Points

Praise Morpheus! I will highly celebrate positive CPAP representation on film, something usually thrown in as a joke. But if EVA GREEN can use one, I don't feel so bad 

Low Points

Aforementioned odd lack of story suspense

Lessons Learned

Medication is great and all but have you ever just tried tickling to reduce panic attacks?

The brattier the kid, the meaner the bullies

Never give a child model chocolate before a shoot

Rent/Bury/Buy

I'm right down the middle on Nocebo. Chai Fonacier is a find, and Eva Green is, as always, incredibly watchable (especially here, where she gets to find complicated notes). But in the end, there's just not much there once you figure out what the film is saying (and there's a good chance you'll do that in the first reel). I'll be curious to know if others have the same challenges, so if you do catch the film (streaming now on Shudder) please stop by and share!

The Stepford Lives

 

One of my favorite measurements for a horror movie is to examine what kind of dreams I have the night I watch it. For Vivarium, they were WEIRD.

That's a good thing.

Quick Plot: Gemma and Tom are growing increasingly frustrated by their limited findings in their quest for the perfect home. Having exhausted the nearby possibilities, they decide to check out Yonder, a new suburban development that seems a little far out of the way of Gemma's schoolhouse and Tom's landscaping job.

They're led to Yonder by Martin, an incredibly odd realtor who doesn't seem to know how to speak to other human beings. Yonder itself seems nice enough: street after street of identical avocado green 2-bedroom homes with modern kitchens and compact yards. There's even a pre-decorated baby boy's room just waiting for the right couple to give to their first male child.

Just as Gemma begins to question where the rest of the neighbors are, Martin vanishes, leaving Gemma and Tom to hop back in their car and hightail it out of there. 

Except, of course, there is no way out.

Well, maybe I spoke too soon. After trying to escape a few of the old fashioned ways, Tom and Gemma receive a mysterious delivery in a Blue Apron-style cardboard box. Unlike their past vacuum-sealed tasteless food, this one contains a newborn baby with a simple message: Raise the child and be released.

Talk about society forcing parenthood on childless couples! The child, it turns out, is a weird little thing, one who ages at an exponential rate but remains a rather horrible, inhuman creature who insists on dressing like a Mormon missionary. Tom and Gemma have agreed to treat it like a thing, feeding it cereal to stop the incessant screaming but avoiding any hints of affection.

One day, Tom discovers some sort of gooey dirt underneath his astroturf lawn. With nothing else to do, he starts to dig, hoping he can discover a path out of Yonder or just keep himself busy and farther away from the incredibly creepy Young Sheldon wannabe that wants to be his son. Gemma, a schoolteacher, can't help but become intrigued by the kid's development.

Vivarium is my kind of movie (see my love of the much underrated House Hunting). It's a genuinely unique but focused premise, and writer/director Lorcan Finnegan lays it out with such twisted simplicity that I think I fell in love. Granted, I find the idea of forced parenthood of monster children to be my deepest nightmare, making me an easy mark for this kind of story, but there's a lot more here: a passionate but fragile romantic relationship thrown into a cruel test before it's really ready, suggestions of otherworldy creatures with a terrifying master plan, literal layers of strangeness, and more.

I dug it.

High Points

I truly hope Imogen Poots enjoys genre filmwork because my GOSH is she good at it. This woman deserves a much bigger career than she thus far has, but I wonder if she actively picks her projects because the roles themselves give her so much room to explore. She's as good here as she was in Black Christmas, conveying such a deep well of dying enthusiasm for her life while still having some kind of conscience about her decisions

Low Points

I actually really like how Jesse Eisenberg is used, but I do wish there was just a little more charm to him at the beginning to justify what Gemma really saw in him in the first place

Lessons Learned

I know we all watched The Babadook thinking, "this is the worst child in horror movie existence" but guess what? This kid makes Sam look like Rhoda Penmark as seen by those who didn't suspect her of serial killing. My point here, in terms of a lesson, is that there are simply no bottom to the depths of how awful children can really be

Rent/Bury/Buy

Quarantine has put Vivarium in more prominent spotlight than it might have otherwise, and sure: a story about the insanity of being stuck in one place with the same faces, homeschooling an unstable boy certainly speaks to our time, but in any other year, I think I still would be highly recommending this film. There's a strong sense of discipline at work in Finnegan's work here, and I'm excited to see more.