Landscape with Invisible Hand is a film as cryptic and roaming as its title. It’s a low-fi sci-fi tale of casual alien invasion… no ray guns, just inconsiderate occupation. The film has something to say… and I got some of it, but certainly not all of it.

First contact with an alien species resulted in a lot of cultural and economic upheaval. The aliens slid right into our lives, disrupting the economy, putting people out of work, replacing our food sources… and now they want to understand our cultural mating habits and will pay good money to learn.

This is a very curious and thoughtful film. It’s saying things about cultural assimilation and replacement in an unusual way. A kind of abstracted social insertion that isn’t malevolent so much as its inconsiderate. The aliens aren’t evil… but they are alien.

And that’s what’s cool about the movie. The aliens are these fleshy bulbous, off-putting tentacled things… a very creative decision to go this inhuman without being monsters (at least in the traditional sense).

The human actors are good too. The two lead teens are natural and have complex personalities and arcs. Tiffany Haddish plays one of the mothers and she brings an interesting mix of intelligence and sass. I like the character development and growth, especially in the final act.

The film isn’t fast paced but it is gently amusing and thoughtful. If I had more faith in what its overall message or analogies were about, I think I might like it a little bit more. As is, I can see some of what they are going for, but not the big picture. It’s a good film though… a curious, head-scratching original and creative bit of weirdness.

Score: 76