Cinema has always been a form of art that has been used to take us to places that we would never expect. I would argue that the whole point of cinema is to tell stories that relate to us on a subjective and objective level while also pushing boundaries to find what comes next on the ladder of artistic evolution. While there are films every year that I love, I haven’t seen something that really changed the form or cinema and tested out areas of art that had not been previously explored. That is until I went to the midnight madness premiere of Harmony Korine’s new deranged epic “AGGRO DR1FT”.
Before we get into the film and what it means to me, we need to set things straight. For one, this is definitely a movie, but it lives in the world of the experimental. I would even consider this the first “Vaporwave” film ever made, which is a style that would make for so many more fantastic “films”. Second of all, this film is not for the sober audience members. All of my friends who saw it with me who hated the film were all somewhat sober. The nature of the project leads to this development. The film is more of a surrealist experimental tale that focuses more on the vibes and energy while also taking a deep dive into the mind of a depressed Miami hitman with a lot of guilt than a cohesive plot that takes you from point a to point b. All of this is maximized with the use of the infrared cinematography that gives the film a grimy neon vaporwave energy. I will admit, I saw this film twice and I was definitely not sober. The first time was at the Midnight Madness screening where I shared some joints with friends. The second screening was a press and industry one the next day that I went to because I wanted to see how many people would walk out of the film and I also wanted to “experience” Korine’s deranged vision again. For that screening, I had a joint and a half before going into the theatre. I couldn’t imagine watching this film sober because the whole thing is structured like a trip, some of it is not as linear as you would expect, but the vibes are excellent. I could probably appreciate it on an artistic level if i watched it sober, but I wouldn’t have fully loved it. This is the next perfect piece of “weed cinema”. This is going to become one of those films that will become legend and be shown to people at parties as an initiation like most of Korine’s other projects.
These two factors lead this review down a less traditional path, similar to choices that the film made. I’m not really reviewing it as a movie, because it really isn’t that. The review is more about how the film was built as a “perfect experience”. There are so many intricacies to this film that can only be unraveled through rewatches. There were so many things that I caught onto the second time and the film actually felt like it had more of a narrative structure that second time around. That’s probably based on the fact that I knew what I was getting into.
The only way I can describe this film is “Harmony Korine’s Vaporwave Hell”. The film is drenched in neon as we watch this assassin trying to exist in a post apocalyptic digital Miami where he’s the best at his job. This film, like most of Korine’s other work has a certain mean or some might say “evil” energy to it that is represented in every element. The stand out element of the film apart from the visuals that fit into this idea of “evil energy” is the way that they played around with the sound design and the use of the score. The film is super unsettling at places and a big reason for that is the score and sound mixing. If the awards shows broke out of their conventional bubble of choices, this would totally be a selection for Best Score, Best Sound Mixing, Best Cinematography and even possibly Best Visual Effects. This film takes you though every emotion with the audiovisual aspects. Some scenes had a piece of score that me unsettled and a bit anxious while other scenes had a piece of score that had me energized. This film emanates a somewhat trashy and unsettling but also all encompassing and trippy vibe through every aspect of the audiovisual presentation.
Many people won’t like this film for many reasons. Some will see it as try hard experimentation while others will have a hard time grasping onto the little amount of story that exists in the film. This film was tailor made for stoners and Harmony Korine fans specifically. AGGRO is not a film for people who don’t like “expanding their mind”. I’ve always been a fan of surrealism and experimental cinema, so this film was trippy vapor perfection for me, but I completely understand if people can’t fully get into it.
AGGRO DR1FT to put it simply is a trip into Vaporwave Hell from the depths of Harmony Korine’s mind. A film that pushes the boundaries of what a film “can be” and does it in some very interesting and overwhelming ways. The film immediately drags you into its neon drenched dystopian version of Miami and gives you an all encompassing audiovisual experience that you will never forget. I hope this film gets a theatrical release when someone picks it up for distribution because the ideal viewing of this type of film is in a theater with other wild film fans. AGGRO DR1FT is a wild boundary pushing trip that I would love to see more of in the future, that being if filmmakers are willing to take the plunge and be this experimental with their ideas.
The Rating
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