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Quick Flick: Biosphere, On Hulu Now
Brief review of the 2022 film
Biosphere isn’t for everyone. In fact, after I watched it, I spent the next few hours trying to figure out if whether it was for me or not.
It’s a simple premise. Billy (Mark Duplas) and Ray (Sterling K. Brown) have been friends since childhood. Billy happens to be the president of the United States. Ray was overbearing as Billy’s advisor, so Billy asked him to build a biosphere just to get him out of the way for awhile. It came in handy when that apocalypse hit, though, and the two buddies’ lives were saved by moving into the shelter.
Directed by Mel Eslyn, Biosphere was written by Eslyn and Duplas. There’s nothing super special about the cinematography, and, although the set design was effective, it also was nothing jaw-dropping. It did look like a space that two guys would be living alone in for several years. The writing, acting, and directing are what bring this one home.
After being alone for years, the two friends bicker, and sometimes even really fight. They play video games, read books, go for jogs (inside, of course) and eat fish. Everything is chugging along fine, until they realize their last female fish has died, which means they’re looking at starving to death. Ray, always the level-headed scientist, keeps Billy calm and looks for solutions. Billy panics.
