In Vitro is set in the near-future Australia, but the couple’s ranch looks like the hardscrabble U.S.A., anytime over the last twenty years. Jack made the visionary decision to embrace biotech. Unfortunately, a lot of the resulting cows have been dying lately. Layla suspects a stranger has been stalking the farm. She is also getting weird vibes from Jack.
Maybe you can guess what is going on quicker than Layla, but the reveal is suitably dramatic. This is probably the angstiest speculative fiction you might have seen in quite some time. Yet, it is the dysfunctional central relationship that really drives the action.
Co-screenwriter Talia Zucker shows amazing range and flexibility as Layla, in ways that would be spoilery to explain. Yet, she is also always very grounded and reserved. Ashley Zukerman never overplays his hand either, hitting the right vaguely creepy notes, but not to an overbearingly menacing degree as Jack. They successfully convey the dysfunctional nature of their chemistry, born out of years of difficult shared history, as well as a nagging sense that something is profoundly wrong between them.
It is hard to write about In Vitro without being too revealing. Compounding the trickiness, it also happens to be an unusually quiet film. Both the eerie sound design and lonely setting contribute to a distinctively austere vibe. Yet, it suits Howarth, McKeith, and Zucker’s themes and motifs.
Nevertheless, this is a well-crafted film, because Howarth & McKeith so rigorously adhere to a rather severe aesthetic approach—yet never at the expense of the pacing, which is definitely appreciated. Recommended for fans of moody near-future science fiction, In Vitro opens this Friday (6/27), including the Laemmle Glendale in LA.
