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Cory Finley directs Tiffany Haddish. Photo courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc.
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 15 (UPI) — According to writer-director Cory Finley, Landscape with Invisible Hand, a sci-fi satire, continues to gain relevance even after production ended. The film, currently in theaters, is set in 2036, five years after the arrival of an alien species called the Vuvv, who have taken over Earth’s school curriculum.
The movie is based on a book by M.T. Anderson, published in 2017, which was written before many schools widely eliminated race, gender, and sexuality studies from their curriculum.
Finley stated, “That’s the beauty of satire. It remains relevant as disturbing real-life events and references keep emerging.”
In one scene, an uneducated character accuses a Black character of having historical privilege, completely ignoring the history of slavery. Finley explains that the depiction of an education system that ignores slavery has become even more relevant, especially considering recent events.
For instance, last month, Florida schools approved an African American history curriculum that received criticism for its inaccurate portrayal of slavery.
The film also touches on the issue of Vuvv replacing the Earth’s education system, which is not exclusive to Florida. Multiple states have banned books discussing racism, the Holocaust, and LGBTQ issues this year.
Finley says, “It becomes a form of propaganda. It’s a top-down dictation of what is taught in schools.”
The movie addresses other long-standing social issues, such as income inequality and environmental problems. In the film, the Vuvv’s advanced technology renders most human jobs obsolete, even driving the top 1% into poverty while the privileged reside in floating cities.
Finley adds, “The Real Housewives of New York would live there. It should be rich, gaudy, beautiful, but a little tacky.”
In the movie, the Campbell family invites the homeless Marsh family to live in their basement. However, the Marshes quickly grow resentful, feeling that even the Campbells, residing in the upper floors, display classist behavior.
Finley explains, “Even when everyone is flattened into a large proletariat, there is still class resentment within these equally impoverished communities.”
The conflict between characters Adam Campbell (Asante Blackk) and Hunter Marsh (Michael Gandolfini) arises from Hunter’s powerlessness against the Vuvv. Hunter, like many others, finds scapegoats outside of the alien species.
To survive under the rule of the Vuvv, Adam and Chloe Marsh (Kylie Rogers) agree to broadcast their romantic relationship for the aliens’ observation. The Vuvv have provided humans with nodes that attach to their heads, allowing for advanced forms of communication, similar to Elon Musk’s research on brain-computer interfaces.
While the Vuvv have solved some of Earth’s environmental problems by producing food cubes that eliminate the need for natural resources, many humans still prefer to grow their own vegetables. Finley was intrigued by the idea presented in the book by Anderson, which suggests that humans might be willing to make a deal with the aliens, considering the current environmental crisis.
Creating the food cubes for the film’s production in 2022 involved various techniques. The steak cubes were made from actual cooked steak that was carefully sculpted to resemble machine-tooled objects.
On the other hand, carrot cubes were less appetizing and were made using a Jello emulsion, creating a disgusting appearance on set.
Regarding the design of the Vuvv aliens, who were described in the book as resembling coffee tables, Finley and visual effects supervisor Eric De Boer aimed to create a unique look that didn’t resemble any other movie alien.
Finley states, “We wanted something that felt ultimately very simple and iconic, but still did not look like anything we know.”
