Aggro Dr1ft
In the first film from Harmony Korine’s new multimedia design collective EDGLRD, jump headfirst into a deranged abyss of infrared vaporwave cinema as a tortured, Miami-based assassin hunts for his biggest target—a demon-winged crime lord.
Shot entirely on thermal imaging cameras and filtered through extensive visual effects, Aggro Dr1ft abstracts reality and looks like the manufactured world of a videogame. Set in and about Miami Beach, it looks like Florida filtered through a hangover, sometimes throbbing and occasionally beautiful when you can get outside of your own head. The title also invokes an existential videogame that’s as much about driving and shooting people as it is about drifting through life. The plot matches that, where a hit man would rather hang out with his family than take another job. It’s a very surface movie in its look, but also very “present tense.” The characters often think out loud and describe their own actions, and it’s almost like you can see director Harmony Korine thinking on film: Demons appear in the background and ink-like illustrations and machine parts appear on people’s skin, as if he is manifesting his visual impulses. Meanwhile, the non-player characters often loop their actions while waiting for something to do. It’s visceral filmmaking that is sometimes boring, often amusing, and even though he's not in it, it’s almost as though Korine himself is the main character. For me, the best thing about Harmony Korine as a filmmaker is his penchant for capturing what he finds interesting no matter what the commercial market is saying, and how what he finds interesting is usually well beyond the script or plot. Like it or not, Aggro Dr1ft is different from everything else out there.
- Director: Harmony Korine
- Principal Cast: Jordi Mollá, Travis Scott
- Country: USA
- Year: 2023
- Running Time: 80 min.
- Producer: Iconoclast, EDGLRD, Toejam
- Cinematographers: Arnaud Potier
- Editors: Leo Scott
- Music: AraabMuzik
- Website: Official Film Website
- Filmography: Circus Maximus (2023), The Beach Bum (2019), Spring Breakers (2012), Trash Humpers (2009), Gummo (1997)
- Language: English
- Has Subtitles: Yes
- International Sales: CAA