Agro Dr1ft is a 2023 film directed by Harmony Korine.
90 minutes of thermal imaging at 22:00, on the fourth day of the 2023 Venice Festival, destabilized more than a few vocal critics… and yet, Agro Dr1ft, the latest from the dreamy Harmony Korine, grabs you from the very first play and holds you by the balls for the entire 90 minutes. It seems paradoxical to talk and live about a “total and sensual” audiovisual experience (as he defines it), including a gaming universe, artificial intelligence, music in the form of excessive knocking and muting (by AraabMuzik), very recognizable Miami, despite the atmospheric shades of thermal overexposure.. .and yet, the film not only conveys significant avant-garde potential, but also develops into a genre narrative matrix that is not only recognizable, but also quite traditional, which Korine defines as “1950s noir.” “. A tormented killer who professionally cannot and should not allow himself remorse (Jordi Molla at best!), about whom we learn a familial intimacy that forces him to reconsider his universal dogmas. He clearly has a black wife – an interesting photographic oxymoron – (hot, sensual, erotic, carnal… as they know her… and she drives us crazy, like all the women Corina has drawn over the years); two children who adore him, and a future for which he intends to take responsibility… only one last mission is missing.
And the antagonist is no different. He needed Travis Scott, with whom Korine had collaborated on musical projects, a rapper worthy of supporting the tabloid vision of this hip-hop. Tupachinana Memory. Exhibition. Corinne wonders what could be there After film, and is looking for ways and worlds in which it still intends to entertain. Because he continues to hold on to his belief, which centers the visual and narrative experience around the pleasure he still wants to experience as a content creator, in this case. He also had fun at a press conference in Venice, appearing in a mask. Agro Dr1ft it is clearly inspired by the most advanced and advanced gaming universe, a virtual world from which you can never escape, a saga that replaces real life, sleepless nights and friendships or grievances that materialize at a distance. From various HALO, GTA, ELden RING, THE LAST OF US, CALL of DUTY, etc. And Travis Scott, when he “dresses up” his sword/penis to give himself the strength to react, is reminiscent of Yoshimitsu from TEKKEN coming full circle.
This is what Korine envisioned and what he is implementing in his creative collective project EDGLRD, based in Mar-a-Lago, as a typology of audiovisual creativity. At a press conference in Venice, he appears as a horned demon, a Deus ex machina who, as in the film, controls not only the plot but also the mechanics. The demon is us, people who, on the other side of the screen (or monitor), can manipulate our reality and make it what we want. A demon ex machina, which in the film dominates and protects the main character, as if controlled by a console, a joystick, a real world intertwined with the world of the director. When asked about artificial intelligence, Korine says that EDGLRD (and we agree) is using artificial intelligence exactly as people in Hollywood are suggesting that artificial intelligence can somehow be used to help create mechanical innovations that don’t replace reality, but which are meant to be reinvented. In short, everything and nothing, or everything again…
Good vision.