Over the past few months, we've seen some major films that are largely shot from a first-person perspective. Most or all of what you see in RaMell Ross' Nickel Boys or Steven Soderbergh's Presence is seen from the perspective of a particular character. It's possible that video games and GoPro clips have made audiences readier to accept those experiments, and the directors do fascinating things with the idea. Another filmmaker who's messing with the format is Harmony Korine, the auteur behind Gummo and Spring Breakers. His latest film is Baby Invasion, which is apparently structured entirely as a first-person shooter game with interactive bits and heavy use of AI. It's also got a score from Burial.
Harmony Korine is 52 years old, but he still carries himself as an enfant terrible. Korine recently founded a vaguely defined creative company called EDGLRD, and its first project was Aggro Dr1ft, a crime flick that stars Travis Scott and is shot entirely through infrared photography. Now, he's directed Baby Invasion, a depiction of a multiplayer shooter game in which the players, who all have babyface AI avatars, go on a murder spree that may or may not be just part of the game. Baby Invasion premiered at the Venice Film Festival last year, and Korine said that he still hasn't met the reclusive producer Burial. Instead, the two communicated entirely through Discord, and Burial sent him the score over PS5.
There's a lot of music in the Baby Invasion trailer, but I can't tell if it's Burial music. If it is, then he's not really messing around with the drizzly, emotional textures that once defined his music. Burial has been experimenting with classic hardcore rave sonics in his recent work, and there's some of that in the Baby Invasion trailer. But it sounds more like generic pulse-pounding video game music, which must be a conscious choice. The movie looks like an abrasive trip. Watch the trailer below.
Baby Invasion is actually out on VOD right now, $5.99 rental and everything. Has anyone seen it? Is it any good?
