Glasshouse

Low budget, ok production values with a plot that a snail could speed past. A dystopian movie that is about endurance for both the characters and the audience. I gladly failed the endurance test.

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.

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.

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.

Loved all the eye candy with that gorgeous Victorian Glass Conservatory. Wow, we just don't make things like we used to. :( Interesting story that I found to be a mix between The Beguiled (Clint Eastwood) and The Walking Dead (minus the huge amounts of gore).

It's scary enough to have to worry about Alzheimer's and dementia, but to imagine a pandemic in which you lose all your memories and sense of self, and all animals and plants dying (and our very important BEES, that allow life to continue on this rock we call home) Especially to watch this during a pandemic, makes it quite a bit more scary, knowing what we now have learned about lies, misinformation and selfishness in the face of mass death world wide.

Worth a watch, especially if you are a fan of The Beguiled and love beautiful Victorian eye candy like me. :D.