Welcome to the future, where the entertainment is us.
MGM shared the official trailer for Landscape With Invisible Hand, the sci-fi drama film based on the acclaimed novel of the same name by M. T. Anderson, starring Asante Blackk, Kylie Rogers and Tiffany Haddish.
In the film, when an occupying alien species’ bureaucratic rule and advanced technology leaves most of Earth impoverished and unemployed, two teenagers hatch a risky plan to ensure their families’ futures.
Directed by Cory Finley, Landscape With Invisible Hand world premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and opens in theaters with a release date of August 18.
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 (Asante Blackk) and new girlfriend Chloe Marsh (Kylie 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.
In their Sundance review, Deadline wrote, “This isn’t just an alien movie, it’s a political statement, in the vein of Neill Blomkamp or Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival, or John Carpenter’s They Live. It’s not a film about killing aliens or outrunning laser beams but about the economic fallout of an alien invasion: How do you live with them, and how does this shape future human interaction? In this story, the Vuvv are stand-ins for oligarchy. These things even treat educated people like garbage.”
Watch the official trailer for Landscape With Invisible Hand.