Writer/director Cory Finley is amazing. His debut directorial film was “Thoroughbreds” (Anna Taylor-Joy), which was one of the best films of 2017. And after seeing “Landscape With Invisible Hand” my wife declared it the best movie of this year, telling me, “I haven’t seen a movie so interesting and original since ‘Sorry to Bother You’.”
Now, I didn’t think the movie was as great as she did, but it was certainly entertaining and thought-provoking. It also has such bizarre elements, that I know this movie won’t be for everyone.
A terrific framing device is used where we get the scoop on some of this story through a series of paintings, with the year and title of the painting shown on screen. The story has Earth making contact with aliens that are called the Vuvv (a word that’s a lot easier to pronounce than any in their bizarre click sounding language that is probably harder to learn than a Zulu dialect).
The aliens are so intelligent, they outdo the humans in technology and commerce. That might have been a good thing in some ways, but the problem is humans are no longer needed in the workforce. This means teachers are laid off, lawyers need to work in a food truck, and a neurosurgeon can make more money as a chauffeur for the Vuvv.
Another way the humans can serve the aliens (there’s a Twilight Zone joke somewhere in there), is with a word that rhymes with Vuvv – love. They seem obsessed with watching and learning about human love, which means they watch old “Ozzie & Harriet” episodes, and even reality shows some earthlings are doing to make money (I don’t know why I laughed so hard when a human walked in, and saw the weird Vuvv creature on her couch, watching “The Jefferson’s.” You either think wacky scenes like that are a blast, or this movie might not work for ya).
There are times I thought of movies like District 9 (the class separation), Snowpiercer (the cubes of food, which I don’t think is Soylent Green), and a few other films. But this is a very original piece of work, and much sharper satire than the overrated Barbie film.
Beth (Tiffany Haddish) has two kids. There’s daughter Natalie (Brooklynn MacKinzie), who is trying to grow her own food and doesn’t want to rely on the Vuvv for everything. She doesn’t trust them. Adam (Asante Blackk) seems to go with the flow. He enjoys school, and shows an aptitude for art. Beth is one of the rare humans who still owns her own, rather large house. Yet she’s having trouble paying the bills. (She was a lawyer who graduated top of her class, but jobs are hard to come by.) When a classmate named Chloe (Kylie Rogers) has a meet/cute with Adam, he invites her family to come stay with them (they were living in their car). And I loved the writing and how things transpired with these two families living together (so much better than that horribly disappointing “It Comes At Night” from 2017).
When a movie has good writing, even the small things are done well. For example, a lesser filmmaker would have made Beth act like a total jerk for this new family invading her space. Yet the script (and Haddish’s good performance), have us seeing she’s a bit perturbed by her son inviting this other family to live with them, but she’s still being civil to them and putting on a smile (until the guys in the family start acting rude, which again, are brilliantly written scenes). One of those rude guys is played by nepo baby Michael Gandolfini (and he’s great in it).
When Adam and Chloe decide to livestream their relationship to the Vuvv to make money, the story develops in interesting ways (think The Truman Show and EdTV).
The second half of the movie adds a bit more comedic elements with one of the Vuvv living with the Campbell family. (I won’t spoil it by telling you the reasons why, but I will say this – who hasn’t wished their wife would give up the remote control, or cut their steak at the dinner table?).
Both my wife and I left the movie wondering about the M.T. Anderson novel this is based on (also from 2017).
There’s something so refreshing about aliens “invading” but instead of shooting lasers and blowing up buildings, it’s a passive-aggressive takeover. This is the movie Jordan Peele should have made, instead of his overrated “Nope.”
Finley does a brilliant job of tackling issues of class, social media, commerce, art, and family fights, while also providing us an entertaining and humorous take that doesn’t feel the least bit preachy (there are so many lines in this I liked, that I’m sure nobody else will care about; one is when an artist is told his paintings have been “edited for clarity”.)
The soundtrack uses a theremin, which is interesting, at first. It’s the perfect sound for scenes with aliens. There was just too much of it (the terrific sci-fi indie film “Another Earth” from 2011, used the theremin perfectly).
This movie is a bit of an acquired taste, just like those green cubes of food I suspect. Yet my wife and I liked it enough that we might go back for a second serving after it’s released.
3 ½ out of 5.