If there was ever a film designed to be projected onto the wall of a college dorm room, this is it. 

Review by Rob Hinkal

Harmony Korine’s Aggro Dr1ft is a visually entrancing, thematically confounding, and all-around bats**t movie. Filmed entirely in infrared, we follow BO, an assassin wrestling with his internal (and literal) demons. Dr1ft isn’t so much of a film as it is a vibe. Viewers of Korine’s previous works will, no doubt, be familiar with the pace and cadence of the Tennessee-born director’s films (including Spring Breakers, Gummo, and the Beach Bum). But if you are walking in blind to your first Harmony Korine joint, you may be wondering what the hell is going on. And even if you are a fan of Korine, you may still be feeling befuddled. But hey, from the quotes the director made surrounding the project, it sounds like maybe no one does. And maybe we aren’t supposed to 

I gotta be fair here, I did sort of zone out of the movie pretty early on, so take what I have to say with maybe more than a pinch of salt, but I did lock back in for the Travis Scott scene and all I can say is that Travis isn’t coming for that Oscar anytime soon (but UTOPIA did deserve a Grammy, let’s be real here). The infrared effect does look cool. It is certainly unlike any other film I have seen before from a purely visual standpoint. The mixture of the style of the movie with AI does make this a product of its time and could legitimately show us how filmmakers and studios use AI in the future. Korine said himself that his goal here was not to make a movie, but rather something that could make its own statement. You have to commend the guy for just going for it. Even if I didn’t walk away enthused by the final product, I can’t help but admire that this fever dream of a film exists. 

Do I think that Aggro Dr1ft is a great movie? No. Do I think you should still watch it? Yes. It’s going to be hard to recall anything else like this experience in modern filmmaking. It is, without a doubt, a unique, bold project from a director who has shown time and again that he has no interest in staying within the conventions of cinema, but would rather push the boundaries to see what new ideas and formats can be established. I have a sneaking suspicion that this movie will re-emerge in popular culture in ways that we aren’t expecting. This is bound to be the visual base for a good number of future raves and college parties. It simply looks too cool to not become a part of the virtual lexicon.