Two old friends find themselves the only survivors after a global catastrophe. And then things get really weird. It’s hard to pigeonhole, but the new sci-fi/comedy/drama Biosphere has arrived in New Zealand and is now playing in cinemas.
Marking the directorial debut of indie producer Mel Eslyn (The One I Love, Lamb), Biosphere sees mumblecore veteran Mark Duplass as Billy, up until recently the President of the United States. Unfortunately, some kind of apocalyptic event has wiped out the human race. Luckily, his old friend and science advisor, Ray (Sterling K. Brown), had a self-sustaining fully contained facility built—the biosphere of the title.
Which is a fun set up for a comedy in the style of The Odd Couple. Or, to pick an example closer to the genre, classic British sci-fi sitcom Red Dwarf, as our two leads inevitably get on each other’s nerves. But Biosphere soon takes a turn to stranger, challenging, more uncomfortable territory as the situation starts having a weird effect on Billy’s biology.
To say more would be to do the film a disservice—it’s much better to go in cold and see where Biosphere takes you. There’s a little political allegory baked in, with Billy being a Republican and Ray a Democrat, and some race issues as well. But it’s when the film starts looking into issues of sexuality that it really begins to pop. The loose, improvisational dialogue and relaxed performances from Brown and Duplass give the whole thing a relaxed, believable tone, even when the sci-fi elements get wild.
Biosphere won huge plaudits on its tour around the festival circuit earlier this year, and it’s not hard to see why. While the setting may be sci-fi, the themes are intimate and personal, making this a nigh-perfect indie gem.
