Marketing isn’t typically the purview of a film critic, but “Nanny,” the debut feature by director Nikyatu Jusu, had me wondering who its target audience might be and how, in fact, the movie might be sold. 

Although it’s touted as a horror film, Ms. Jusu’s picture is more discursive and poetic than the typical creature feature. On the other hand, it’s too much of a creature feature to fit the bill as a psychological thriller. Add to that a recounting of the immigrant experience which, at key points in the plot, provides the film’s funniest and most knowing moments. Also, “Nanny” is a love story, as well as a valentine — albeit somewhat skewed — to New York City.

Then there is politics. The accompanying press release — with its talk of “the everydayness of microaggressions” and “imperial racist patriarchy” — lays out a strong current of ideological emphasis and, truth be told, it doesn’t take a lot of elbow grease to uncover it during the run of the picture. Still, intention and achievement are very different things. A work of art is the sum of its initiatives and, should it be any good, stubbornly independent of them. “Nanny,” in that regard, is stubborn indeed. It’s an impressive and often quite beautiful film.

“Nanny” is centered on Aisha (the lithesome Anna Diop), an emigre from Senegal who lands a job taking care of Rose (Rose Decker), the 7-year-old daughter of Adam (Morgan Spector) and Amy (Michelle Monaghan). What Adam does is unclear — he travels the world and is involved, in one way or another, with political unrest. Amy works at an unspecified corporate concern and is the chief breadwinner. When we first encounter them together, it’s clear the marriage has seen happier days.

Aisha has seen happier days as well: She’s left behind a young son in Senegal and is desperate to bring him to the United States. Aisha commiserates regularly with a cadre of West Africans in her Bronx neighborhood and begins a relationship with Malik (Sinqua Walls, turning on the charm), the concierge at Amy and Adam’s luxury apartment building. But things begin to go awry: Not only does Aisha have to deal with Amy’s controlling tendencies and unreasonable demands, but her phone calls home go straight to voicemail.

Then there are the recurring dreams and visions, waking nightmares keyed into two key figures from African folklore. We learn about Mami Wata from Maliq’s grandmother Kathleen, played by the veteran stage and screen actress Leslie Uggams. By turns seductive and menacing, Mami Wata is a water deity often likened to a mermaid. 

Westerners are probably more familiar with Anansi, a trickster who assumes the guise of a spider and is known as much for his malicious wit as his wisdom. Both Mami Wata and Anansi appear during the course of “Nanny,” and their benevolence is up for debate. In a scene sure to send shivers up the spines of the bug-wary, Anansi stealthily enters Aisha’s mouth while she sleeps. No amount of coughing, it seems, will evict this particular tenant.

The primary weakness of “Nanny” is a script potted with lapses in logic and dead ends. I mean, would striving millennials really be as blase as Adam and Amy when confronted by an alarming growth of mold in their high-end apartment? That and the film’s rushed denouement betray a screenwriter not yet accustomed to pacing a story for a longer running time. 

Yet Ms. Jusu is a supple director, and manages to weave together her narrative tangents and symbolic asides with nary a seam showing. Best of all, she’s yoked a performance from Ms. Diop that is as grounded as it is winning. “Nanny” should do much to ensure the commercial and artistic viability of both women. Get ready to see more from them in the future.