'Landscape with Invisable Hand', odd name, based on the 2017 novel by M. T. Anderson. This is a young adult dystopian story that got its self an R rating, lots of F-bombs, no real sex and violence. Also it's directed by Cory Finely, known for black comedy, ' Throughbreads', 'Bad Education'. I don't expect this will make much money.
It's hook is as an off beat send up of social media culture, but it's about a lot more. Set in 2036, 5 years after mankind's first contact with aliens. The Vuvv are tiny brown creatures, they look (to borrow and expand from one characters observation) like fleshy, moist, coffee tables. The Vuvv are capitalists, they are here to conquer, but finically. Their superior technology allows them to speedily corner our markets, and while nation states continue to exist, the new commers are effectively calling the shots on Earth in short order.
It reminded me of the British Raj in India, and as an examination/parable of colonial occupation I thought it really succeeds. Some collaborators do well for themselves, but most suffer under the new regime, poverty is rampant. Set in Rhode Island, Adam Campell (Asante Black) invites the homeless family of Chloe Marsh (Kylie Rogers), a girl he likes from school, to stay in his family's basement. While her father is an accountant and his mother a lawyer, neither can find work, they are just getting by, but for how much longer?
Being asexual reproducers the Vavv are fascinated by human concepts of romance, they enjoy watching people date on their own versions of Tiktok or YouTube. Adam and Chloe decide to monetize their feelings for each other, at first to great success, but the awkward home situation cools the romance, they try to fake it, but the Vavv viewers catch on, landing them in legal trouble for false advertising. With the prospect of landing their family's in generations of, let's call it indentured servitude, the need for some kind of way out becomes paramount.
This is a pretty bleak film. It's clever and has a bunch to say. The characters mostly work (Tiffany Haddish has become someone I'm always happy to see turn up in a film) as does the sense of world building, there are both amusing and chiling moments throughout. The Vavv see themselves as benign, they don't really understand the humans, though they think they do. It's a case study in how different cultures, different peoples, perceive the same events, and the difficulties in seeing the others point of view. Yes, some have critized the movie for trying to cram too many ideas into it's 105 minute run time, but I didn't have trouble kèeping up with the narrative and suspect this movie will reward repeat viewing. Also it's the kind of thing Ron DeSantis would try and ban from Florida schools. So thumbs up. ***
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