Starting of this review and overview of the entire night of AGRRO DR1FT'S L.A. Premiere I must state this wasn't a theatre experience and this was a premiere brought to you by the production company EDGLRD. EDGLRD is a new production company set up by or with Director Harmony Korine to create art that is mainly handled by upcoming and new tech. Being said the film is entirely shot using Infrared Cameras supposedly rented from NASA. The film uses the help of AI to make the footage of the film different than something just infrared. along with CGI to enhance the visuals.
But let's start at the beginning. It seems like every event I attended is plagued by bad weather. On the way to the Strip Club, which yes, this film is presented on the TV walls throughout Crazy Girls in Los Angeles. I fought through the storm and “barely able to see” weather, with typical LA traffic. Almost to the venue, I hit a pothole from hell, and basically, it sent uncertainty about the night down my spine. I got there early as the strip club and production crew are being more gracious than most LA venues and are setting up tents outside to shield everyone they can from the rain. Upon waiting, our IDs were checked for this 21+ and over event, and we were let in.
It was told to us before entering that after the screening, everyone will stand up, and they'll collect the chairs. In my head, I heard, "fuckin fold-out chairs, my sciatica!" We get in, and I was quite surprised by the quality of each chair. Sure, it was a lawn chair, but they made the effort to give some comfort with some added cushions. During this time of packing into the strip club, which housed a maximum of 250ish people, they had a DJ playing some tunes, while strippers, well, danced. I looked around the room, somewhat still high and noticed the age group and who's hyped, who was a fan, and who was a fan that dragged their partner there. Some, for sure, had never been in a strip club before.
As the movie is being announced to start, I lean forward to pat my buddy on the back and toss him a little comment about the whole venue. However, I was stopped by the leaking ceiling that was now dripping onto me. Yup, $100 a ticket to an out-of-theatre experience of a Harmony Korine film, and ceiling rain is dripping onto me. Nevertheless, I move out of the way, and the lights go off. I sip the free beer I was given and cover it with my hand because I feel more drips somewhere. The film starts, my eyes are SEARED. The infrared camera's footage is bright, colorful, and changes every now and then. So, this is the part where I cut my experience so far and tell you about the film.
The film opens, bright and colorful, the assassin in the film known as, well, I don't know. The first five to ten minutes, my ears were ringing from the bass and volume being so high that I couldn't hear anything but ARAABMUSIK and sound design. But back to the film, as the assassin pulls a rope/belt over a "bad guy’s" neck, he chokes him to death while he laid in the pool, cursing him as he died. We then see him laying in the pool, somehow now Bloody? The Assassin tells how he's a killer, he's an assassin, he's a killer, an Assassin, The world's greatest assassin, now I'm paraphrasing but this is what the dialogue is like. This with a very 90's video game demon over his shoulder in the sky.
After killing this bad person, we see The Assassin driving through the city neon-lit via infrared cameras, with some continued dialogue of what I said in the last paragraph. We get to his home where we meet the Assassin's family. A young boy, young girl, and his wife. He explains that all he needs is love, he loves his family, he does it all for his family. Repeated that 6 times and we see him give hugs and kisses to his kids, they go to bed. Then the wife of the assassin starts groping her husband, who gives her a hug and walks outside to continue his rant about his life. We are left watching his wife twerk, adjust her clothing, and be "sexy" for the camera.
To me, it seems like The Assassin doesn't hate his job of killing people, but ultimately is afraid of losing his family. That he's also not a bad person, regardless of the oversized demon motivating/being his avatar because he kills the bad people. He gets a call that he has to meet with his boss or someone who wants to pay him to kill this bad man, and he'll give him "everything he sees! all the money, so much money he can’t even spend all of it” Cut to driving through the streets and cut-ins of his family, and more cut-ins of kids wrestling with knives in an alleyway? The Assassin reaches the house of the boss and greets the man. Mind you like 70% of these scenes, they are not really saying anything it's just overdubbed dialogue playing during a scene, and it seems like Korine used the first take or there was only one take and they used ALL of it.
Basically, the boss continues about how he wants him to kill this bad guy. Continues his explanation of what he'll get. We then see filler for the next 20ish minutes; Driving his car, wife twerking, kids sleeping, a bunch of "assassins" that are pointing guns at the camera and posing like it's a Travis Scott music video. Then it pretty much becomes an avant-garde Travis Scott music video, as we are greeted by the man himself. After walking around the boat for 5 minutes, The Assassin, is also with him. There's a lesson given between them, but ultimately you get told that The Assassin is gonna deal with a big bad guy, and if he doesn't make it, "watch after his family", Travis Scott doesn't wanna hear it, and can't fathom that his mentor might die in this battle.
We see more strippers, guns and ammo, money, The Assassin doing whatever he needs to do to prep himself, and the introduction of the "Big Bad, Bad Guy." I don't even know his name so let's just leave it at this, he'll be known as "Big Bad, Bad Guy." His main introduction shows this Buff Bagwell-looking dude with a shaved head, who's dancing on a table with samurai swords while girls dance, and all he is saying is "Dance Bitch, Dance, Yeah! Dance!" over and over and he's THE guy that The Assassin is worried about and is the big payday for him. It then cuts to The Assassin shooting, already dead henchmen on the floor, and his Boss is waiting for him, I don't know if this was the Big Bad, Bad Guy's henchmen or not, but they're dead and The Assassin finds no use for the guy that hired him and kills him too. I guess still he has a reason to do the job though.
However, it then shows the same guy hanging, and I don't know why. There's no real explanation to anything but very vague. The film continues and The Assassin is geared up with an Uzi and a pistol, he enters the Big Bad, Bad Guy's house, women are tied up and caged and he says "I'll come back for you" he continues through the house. The Big Bad, Bad Guy, states that "he can smell him, he can smell his stinking soul" repeat x6. They both sneak around the house missing each other till they finally meet outside. The Big Bad, Bad Guy, has his massive sword, who keeps emoting every 3 minutes, where he grabs the sword like his dick and humps the air, as he looked for the Assassin.
The film has come to its final fight, well, the only fight scene. There are little people who were shown prior waving swords around, and they are the Big Bad, Bad Guy's cult-like "beings" as they wear cloaks and masks and make weird sounds. Mind you, this is THE final boss fight, the one the Assassin has been worried about and gearing up, to get ready for. Travis Scott, is very worried, The Assassin doesn't want to lose his family. Although initially entering the house with two weapons, he immediately drops them (without ever firing a shot) and grabs a pocket knife from one of the little cult beings. It's now the Big Bad, Bad Guy vs. The Assassin, a Katana vs. a pocket knife.
The fight happens, and it's over before you think it started, with The Assassin of course winning. The Big Bad, Bad Guy has his head removed in the most German Splatterfilm way you can imagine; the budget for this film aside from the cameras must've been this dude's body cast. The demon is still there supporting the Assassin through this beheading, and once it's done, he tosses it to the little beings who play hot potato with it as blood leaks everywhere. The Assassin has no one to control him anymore; he's back enjoying his family, Travis Scott is no longer worried. Two rave girls carry the head down a pier and wave goodbye to the camera, as the head continues to pour blood. Title credits.
So, that was the film, I don't think I could exercise any more details. The idea of the film is there. It 100% feels like cut scenes from a failed attempt at GTA in 1995. From the dialogue down to the experimental look. The use of Infrared, Music, AI, and CGI was the film. Everything else; the story, characters, is nonexistent or not the point. It's a plot you could put together in your head watching the backdrop visuals of someone DJing. The AI, making unique patterns of something that could be something, but ultimately isn't, was kinda just placed there. I kinda wished they used the AI and CGI to make up for what the Infrared camera couldn't. Basically, use it to make up for things that were hard to understand from the footage and make it more cohesive. But unfortunately, it's there because it's "cool new tech, check it out!"
The film is good for what it is, it’s an experiment and shown how it was experimentally and backed by a party thrown by Harmony Korine and Team. I give it a 5/10. It's not a movie; it's GameCore. If you like cut scenes in video games and you hate that you can skip it, then you'll love this. A fan of AI, experimental WTF-ness this is for you. Without the Big Bad, Bad Guy and some others saying some wild ass shit, and emoting and the splatter-filled ending, I couldn't find anything within this neon talking Jackson Pollock, aside from someone made this. I do give MAD props for Harmony going back to something like Trash Humpers after doing Spring Breakers and The Beach Bum, but it does seem like he did this with some homies within 72 hours and maybe one extra day to include Travis Scott.
The film ended, and the seats disappeared; AraabMUZIK killed it. Played some bangers, got the crowd hyped. A girl got kicked out for being too drunk, strippers were strippin', some people never been to a strip club and it showed. Even the "kids" who went on their phones during the film were buying merch and hyped. Overall success by the EDGLRD team. Harmony entered, mask on with 3-4 other people that "could be him too." Along with masked little people, neon-lit Ghouls, and girls who weren't the strippers but were dancing on stuff that security was unsure if they should be. I left, and I am more interested to know how The American Cinematheque will handle this film in a theatre setting, without a party from AraabMUZIK and Harmony Korine.
The project itself I give 5/10
The project amongst what it was made for and in its intended setting 10/10
It's 100% inspiring and makes you think outside the box. It's a unique perspective of what you can make, if you have a name, backing and where it can be shown. It definitely pushed me to create more absurd and nonsensical creations, simply because I can and the equipment is available! Harmony, remains the true "I make what I want and I don't care if it fits whatever you want it to fit" and that's always high praise in my eyes, much more than the film itself. AGGRO DR1FT, in my personal opinion is its own beast and would fit perfectly playing on a screen in an arcade, as I finish playing Tekken.
Signed, A Really Big Harmony Korine Fan
Edited by AI