Director: Harmony Korine
Writer: Harmony Korine
Stars: Anonymous, Juan Bofill, Shawn Thomas
Synopsis: An ultra-realistic, multiplayer FPS game follows a group of mercenaries using baby faces as avatars. Tasked with entering mansions of the rich and powerful, players must explore every rabbit hole before time runs out.
If there is one director who has reinvented himself to the point of being almost unrecognizable, it is Harmony Korine. The man who directed films like Gummo (1997), Julien Donkey-Boy (1999), and Trash Humpers (2009) has shifted his artistic expression many times now, as he began his career making dramas about the underbelly of American society–employing the themes of mental illness, abuse, and family dysfunction through jet black humor and vulgar tones–and later followed it up with flashy pictures that caused his transition from indie-cinema provocateur to mainstream recognition–implementing the artistic mediums of painting and video art to his films.
His latest transformation is his most drastic and strange yet—for better and worse. Under the EDGLRD umbrella, Korine is doing projects unlike anything you have seen before in the cinema. The company, with Korine leading the creative route, uses videogames, streaming, YouTube aesthetics, and reels as inspiration for their projects to change the cinematic landscape and how modern audiences view the medium. Based on their first film, AGGRO DR1FT, I don’t think people will see cinema in a different light. Still, there are some stylistic decisions–with the use of infrared–that the filmmakers of tomorrow might want to utilize in their own features when the time comes.
Storytelling-wise, it was utterly terrible; in terms of flashiness, there is something interesting to the film, more so often than what I would like to admit–me not being a fan of Korine’s work. And the same thing occurs with their second and latest cinematic experience, Baby Invasion. There is zero focus on narrative; it is driven by vibes and a pounding, pulsating original score by British electronic musician Burial. Baby Invasion is highly frustrating and occasionally headache-inducing, but its technical execution is undeniably unique. The film’s title comes from a made-up, ultra-realistic, multiplayer FPS (First Person Shooter), where a group of mercenaries wearing baby faces do as they please.
They rob mansions, hold millionaires hostage, shoot up those who resist, take drugs, amongst other nonsensical stuff. These avatars are doing GTA-style chaos. Baby Invasion and AGGRO DR1FT are both, in that videogame sense, one and the same. The difference between them, apart from the latter’s misogynistic actions involving sex workers and fireworks, is that at least Baby Invasion does something rather interesting with its story; meanwhile, AGGRO DR1FT is more of a one-trick infrared pony. After each heist and robbery, Korine adds surrealist elements and imagery where reality and fiction blend to create a dizzying, flaring simulation that baffles, yet somehow entrances. The Baby Invasion game is played by an unnamed streamer bearing a skull mask similar to the ones seen in AGGRO DR1FT.
He and his buddies are streaming it live while a flood of childish and rude viewer comments clutter the left side of the screen throughout the film. We don’t see them often, but when we do, it is on occasions when this intertwining occurs. A portal between the game and their room appears as the surroundings turn into a screen showing psychedelic imagery. It is difficult to describe and put into words, but it is highly sensory and distorted. Korine experiments with the concept of Twitch streaming and live streams, adding his own flavor to it. After watching Baby Invasion, I came across an arcade-like game called ‘Mullet Madjack’, and played it to competition because it was so addicting. In this game, you play as moderator Jack, who is assigned to rescue an influencer called Princess from a mad billionaire from a skyrise tower.
Each floor is randomized, and a boss waits for you every ten floors. Your actions are live-streamed, with a chat room appearing on the screen, and a host does commentary as you shoot the enemy robots down. The catch? You have ten seconds to live. Each kill gives you more time, but you must start from the beginning if it runs up. It is a coincidence that this game appeared in the XBOX Game Pass near the release of Baby Invasion. The two–Harmony Korine’s film and Hammer95 Studios’ game–have plenty of similarities. Outside of the dopamine rush and attention span multitasking style, ‘Mullet Madjack’ also has components that match some comments by Korine, like his thoughts on people streaming their crimes in the future and streamers as the future of the visual medium.
Korine has also stated his interest in making videogames. And I imagine his projects might look like the hectic, fast-paced shoot-em-up that is ‘Mullet Madjack’. The vulgarity of his past work, albeit slightly, intertwines with his appreciation of video art and the newly-found admiration for AI to create an experience that is difficult to compare to what is being screened in cinemas. But it is difficult to enjoy because it is complete and total nonsense. This is a distinctly 2020s product catering to modern youth. To give props to Harmony Korine, he knows how to adapt to the times and make films that encapsulate the worst tendencies of that time and place. Korine has said in Q&As that Hollywood is losing many of the most talented and creative minds to gaming and streaming.
“This idea of conventional film is ending. They’re still going to exist, but now, something is ending, and something is being born. And so films, what we call films, are changing, and it will be experiences, and how we’re able to experience them”, said Korine at the 2024 Venice Film Festival press conference for Baby Invasion. It is accurate that the art form and how it is viewed has changed vastly–almost entirely–in the past couple of years. And Baby Invasion is an experience that is as unique as it is draining. But these aren’t the works that will replace films because they lack the most crucial factor: a story, one that is compelling and connects with the viewer, either by a relatable factor that touches the heart or provokes thought. That is why, even though I admire Korine’s latest to some degree, Baby Invasion does not have staying power or impact outside of its runtime. It is a fleeting moment; you see it, talk about it (maybe), and then it leaves, all because there’s no intriguing storytelling. I will be there to see the next one because of its ingenuity and creativity, both visual and aesthetic. But they won’t have much weight in the cinematic world’s large landscape.
