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This review was originally published on September 2, 2023 out of the Venice Film Festival.
We are recirculating it now thatAggro Dr1ftis in theaters.
Shot in this way, the world loses its detail.
Sky and water and concrete turn into competing beds of neon.
Humans turn into raw movement, their faces expressionless blot tests.
If that sounds compelling to you, thats because it is for about five minutes.
Fuck you, fucker.
This is what you get, pig.
Thats a lot of space to fill.
(Can we even call them characters?
Maybe we should call them figures.)
Theres a fundamental problem withAggro Dr1ft, though its not one I suspect Korine cares all that much about.
Its almost a law of physics that bold visual experiments soon reveal why they usually remain experiments.
Theyre in love with the idea more than the execution.
Movies arent just images or stories, theyre journeys.
Its a temporal medium that asks the viewer to sit still, at least for a little while.
Thats why things like human faces gain such importance.
AndAggro Dr1ftquite frankly doesnt find the thing it needs to keep us watching.
It doesnt attempt to.
I suspect it doesnt even know what that is.
Its a shame becauseAggro Dr1ftdoes occasionally throw us a surprising image.
Some of these moments feel intentional.
A giant demon lurking above the red skies of Miami.
Jawa-like little people waving machetes around.
Pool water that looks like blood as it drips off Bos kids.
Some feel less intentional.
The thermal imagery makes Travis Scotts enormous blunt look like a dinky party horn.
Sparklers shooting out of gyrating strippers look like giant farts.
Hes also said that he wasnt trying to make a movie.
Well, he hasnt.
