The smallest details in the post-apocalyptic social satire “Biosphere” are precise and deliberate and carry meaning, whether it’s a character reading a certain book or the buddy-movie playing on video or the references to a famous line from a certain dinosaur blockbuster or the ongoing discussion about the relationship between the Super Mario Bros. These neat little notes are dropped like so many breadcrumbs along the trail and offer some clever hints about the larger storyline, but that brings us to where “Biosphere” falls short: The Big Picture it is painting remains a bit too fuzzy and frustratingly ambiguous to the end.
“Biosphere” is a two-hander that marks the feature-length directorial debut of the talented Mel Eslyn, a frequent collaborator with Lynn Shelton and Mark and Jay Duplass. In a premise that might have worked better as a stage work in a small theater, or as a short film, the entire story is set within the confines of a loft-condo-sized bio-dome, where Ray (Sterling K. Brown) and Billy (Mark Duplass, who co-wrote the screenplay with Eslyn) are apparently the last two remaining humans on the planet. Outside is nothing but blackness; inside the lights are controlled by a timer to simulate night and day.
