It
is sort was sort of like winning the ultimate reality TV survival game, except
maybe winners weren’t so lucky. After the doomsday plague broke out, 5,000
lottery winners were placed in sealed bunkers and connected to six other
survivors via the communication system known as the “Domain.” Survival has been
more of a mental challenge for Phoenix and her six fellow lucky drawers, but
they might start to face physical issues as well in screenwriter-director Nathaniel
Atcheson’s Domain (trailer here), which opens
tomorrow in Los Angeles.
Phoenix
is stuck with a really motley group of survivors. Somewhere, along the way,
they stopped using names and started referring to each by the city their bunker
is located in. Orlando is an aggressively obnoxious jerk, who recently
confessed to his criminal past. He is definitely the worst of the group, but
Chicago has also been exhibiting anti-social tendencies. At least she has
Denver, with whom she has commenced a seriously long-distance relationship.
That has caused a bit of jealousy in Boston, who takes his position as their
ostensive leader very seriously.
Over
Phoenix’s objections, the group votes to disconnect Orlando from their feeds.
Presumably, this is a massive violation of protocol, but Denver’s hacking
prowess makes it possible. Unfortunately, bugs start developing in the system
shortly thereafter, suggesting they may have upset the Domain’s equilibrium. As
the glitches become progressively more serious, Phoenix and Denver start
considering the possibility of escape.
The
first two-thirds of Domain are quite
cleverly conceived and tightly executed. These (for the most part) six bunkers
feel like a real living environment, as well as a hermetically sealed ecosystem
unto itself. However, Atcheson sort of writes himself into a corner, which
forces him to fall back on a derivative cop-out third act reveal.
Brit
Lower is terrific as Phoenix, balancing strength and vulnerability in equal
measure. She develops some remarkably potent (though necessarily chaste)
chemistry with Ryan Merriman’s Denver. William Gregory Lee also portrays the
risk-averse Boston with surprising depth and dimension.
Even
though the laws governing their situation do not make a great deal of sense,
but Atcheson scrupulous observes them—and in some cases explanations will be
revealed later. Yet, the film really works best when things are murky and
mysterious. Recommended as an interesting near-future, slightly-dystopian film (one that is more about
the social and psychological implications of extreme situations), Domain opens tomorrow (9/28) in LA, at
the Laemmle Music Hall.
