Mark Duplass and Sterling K. Brown star as, possibly, the last two men on Earth in Biosphere, a wacky, funny movie from writer-director Mel Eslyn.
Duplass, who co-wrote the script with Eslyn, plays Billy, a man we learn very little about at first, other than he’s a Mario Bros. enthusiast, and he went to Yale.
Longtime personal and professional friend Ray (Brown) lives with him in a post-apocalyptic bunker that looks not unlike a mid-grade hotel suite. They’re equipped with fish for eating, a little garden, a bunch of books and an oxygen generator. For some unknown reason, the world as we all know it has come an end, with Billy and Ray being the last-known survivors. Telling you more about their backgrounds would spoil some of the better aspects of the film.
Ray is the more scientific of the duo, scrambling for answers when their last female fish dies—imperiling their lives. Just as they’re about to panic, some strange things happen with the remaining fish. Let’s be clear: Nothing that happens in this film is supposed to be realistic. This is scientific satire of the silliest order.
The film works nicely as a statement on climate control and government, while cleverly playing with issues surrounding gender identity and masculinity. Duplass and Brown, two of the more underrated and underutilized actors working today, are very good as the only two characters in the movie. The wilder the film gets, the better they get.
In a summer that, so far, has been coming up a little short, this constitutes one of the better films. Also: If there is any movie this summer to which I would like to see a sequel, it’s this one. I really want to know what’s next for these characters.
Biosphere is now streaming on various online sources.
