By Ally Oman

The greatest disservice that could be done to Biosphere would be to sell it on the grounds of the strange direction its plot takes. Set in a near future in which the only two survivors of a global catastrophe are best friends Ray (Sterling K. Brown) and Billy (Mark Duplass), the film takes the form of a deconstructed buddy comedy. A not-so-subtle critique of masculinity and power is elevated by the film’s confrontation with homoeroticism and queer bodies, and while it certainly buckles under the weight of its conceit, the charisma of its two leads manage to uphold the material enough to be affecting. At times benefiting from the cringe-comedy style that the Duplasses have built a name for themselves upon, Biosphere is at its most effective when it stops laughing at itself to give away to the tenderness at its heart.

The twist—at once truly surprising and completely inevitable—hinges upon the audience’s ability to imagine transformation and queerness beyond the limits of the binary. To hide the film’s central premise behind the promise of a shocking twist only undermines the otherwise naturalized and compassionate approach taken to dissect these issues. It is an invitation to laugh and revel in the strangeness of the human body and a hopeful plea for the future.

Ally Oman