Directed By Cory Finley

Starring – Asante Blackk, Tiffany Haddish, Kylie Rogers

The Plot – Years into a benevolent alien occupation of Earth, the human race is still adjusting to the new world order and its quirky coffee table-sized overlords called the Vuvv. Their flashy advanced technology initially held promise for global prosperity, but rendered most human jobs and steady income obsolete. When 17-year-old artist Adam Campbell (Blackk) and new girlfriend Chloe Marsh (Rogers) discover the Vuvv are particularly fascinated with human love and will pay for access to it, they decide to livestream their budding romance to make extra cash for themselves and their families. Life is good, for a while, until the flame of their teenage love fizzles out and they’re forced to make very different, absurdly life-altering sacrifices for their families.

Rated R for adult language and brief violent content

LANDSCAPE WITH INVISIBLE HAND | Official Trailer – YouTube

POSITIVES

Cory Finley excels in emitting the uncomfortable, and with his newest film reflecting his most ambitious project to date, he finds his direction giving in to those urges to put his characters and their established setting through the emotional ringer, which will challenge their existence endlessly. Unlike most bleak future films, this one feels particularly close to our own everyday world, not only in its timely setting of 2036, but also in the economics and outlooks of its unique world shining a pesimistic vantage point in emanating from what feels like the inferior side of capitalism, with a universe suffering from its own sacrificial deals. This world is obviously enhanced with remarkable technology and corresponding world-building, which I found easily the single most interesting aspect of the film, but also in the design of our otherworld aliens, which are conjured purposely with the underwhelming kind of C.G that plays more collectively in the bizarreness of their actions and interactions. As for the script, Finley’s ambitions also transfer accordingly in adapting the novel of the same name by M.T Anderson, but changes in the ending, which I felt was greatly improved on the conveniences and optimism of its predecessor, which I felt didn’t work within the confines of this established world. So instead, Finley focuses more on the profound themes and subliminal commentary of a superior race living directly above their counterparts, and how that same kind of individualism lends itself to the confines of this claustrophobic household of humans, where the entirety of our story takes place. Not everything is executed smoothly for entertainment purposes, as I will detail later, but Finley’s ambiguity factor that quite literally and figuratively hangs over the proceedings instills an alluring element that maintains our interests throughout a 100 minute experience, with a natural conveying of information inside of exposition that feels effective without speaking directly at the audience. This is followed up with the magnitude of youthful performances, which measure impactful in dominating the focus, especially from Blackk and Rogers, who are a refreshing duo of teenage authenticity in their respective portrayals. Not only do the two share a believably complex chemistry that echoes the many beats that their timultuous relationship takes, but also a fine measuring of emotionality that never feels overtly exaggerated or spontaneous for teenage rendering. Lastly, much credit goes to the production in conjuring an experience that visually and audibly is unlike anything else in this already eight month old movie year. The cinematography from Lyle Vincent brandishes a weathered canvas that atmospherically renders consciousness in a world whose better days are clearly behind it, and the extensive music compositions from Michael Abels pursues an inescapably haunting persistence with female delivered hymns and piano dominated instrumentals that seem to always convey something dark and ominous lurking in the clouds.

NEGATIVES

As previously conveyed, this film reaches for the hefty kind of themes in its material and corresponding commentary that prove it has plenty to say about our own world, but the randomness in each of them work better as individual pieces instead of one cohesive project, which eventually becomes disjointed once the initial plot is put to bed, at around the half hour mark. This is especially disappointing because I truly invested in this adolescent couple that the foundation of this film was founded on, but the script disassociates from it and the Chloe character so unremarkably that they become ghosts in the film that they were once so prominently featured in. Aside from this, the framing devices of Adam’s paintings conveying these pocketed chapters in the life of his family were a nice artistic touch to the presentation, but only highlighted my issues with a majority of the movie’s editing, which abruptly rushed ahead through what I felt were pivotal moments in the growth of these characters. For starters, their corresponding on-screen text naming the event is a little too on-the-nose, eviscerating unpredictability in its wake, but also all the more telegraphed for the aforementioned pocketed instances of evolving conflict, which never materialized as one collective effort. Finally, while the film does feel a bit prolonged at 100 minutes, especially in a third act climax that doesn’t seem to know when and where to end, some unfinished arcs such as Adam’s re-emerging father, or Chloe’s multiple partners, could’ve used more time and attention towards properly fleshing out. Failure to do so makes them feel all the more abruptly compromising when they do materialize, making us feel like additional scenes or sequences were left as sacrificial lambs on the cutting room floor.

OVERALL
“Landscape With Invisible Hand” is undoubtedly Finley’s weakest effort to date, but one that still brandishes with it his most ambitious concept and production, illustrating a dystopian dysphoria with capitalism that echoes many of our own failing policies. With in-depth world-building, a hauntingly entrancing production in presentation, and a uniquely diverse extraterrestrial at the center of its story, Finley willfully embraces the uncomfortable, and nearly pulls off something great for his out-of-this-world efforts that continue to cement him as a compelling filmmaker.

My Grade: 6/10 or C+