Actor/writer/producer Mark Duplass has always been known for making off-kilter films. He first gained notice with 2005’s The Puffy Chair, which was at the forefront of the so-called "mumblecore" genre, which features often-improvised dialogue over plot. He’s become more mainstream as an actor in the ensuing years, but he always returns to this minimalistic style of filmmaking.
His latest film is Biosphere, a film about the end of the world that goes in unexpected directions. The story opens with Ray (Sterling K. Brown) and Billy (Duplass) running laps inside a self-contained biosphere. It soon becomes clear that they are (or believe they are) the last two people on Earth after an unspecified apocalypse. They live out their days having conversations about pop culture, playing video games, and wondering how long they can keep going on their diminishing food supply.
The death of their last female fish causes a crisis, but that situation soon alters their environment in a big way that has nothing to do with food. The way each of them deals with this abrupt change is the “plot” of the film, forcing both to rethink their understanding of the way the world works.
Directed by Mel Eslyn and written by Eslyn and Duplass, the film is heavy on mysterious elements, although whether those mysteries are solved is not the point. The world outside their dome is always dark, making it unclear where they are or if the apocalypse was the death of the sun itself. A green light appears in the sky that becomes an obsession for both for reasons that are not stated for the audience.
What makes film interesting is the push and pull between Ray, who is logical and more intelligent, and Billy, who is simpler and more reactive. Their predicament would seem to make Ray the more valuable of the two, but when they have to adjust to the new development, Ray’s scientific brain is often unable to process things as quickly as Billy’s more emotional state of being.
Despite the dire circumstances facing the characters, the film has a lot of funny elements. Ray and Billy’s conversations expose their unique dynamic, one which comes into sharper focus when they obliquely reference the fact that Billy used to be the President of the United States, an idea that’s laughable in a variety of ways. An a cappella soundtrack featuring voices instead of music lends the film an atmosphere that’s both light and a little spooky.
A film like this lives or dies on the chemistry between its two leads, and Brown and Duplass are more than up to the task. Each embodies the required elements of their characters well, but each also knows exactly how to handle the shifts between drama and comedy. Their individual decorated histories come together here for an experience that’s a pleasure to watch.
Biosphere is objectively a strange film that deals with issues not typically seen in movies. But the film’s approach to the weirdness and the acting of the two leads makes it easy to digest, even if they never really explain what the hell is going on.
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Biosphere opens in select theaters and will be available on demand on July 7.
