Baby Invasion

It is a technology demonstration, except the artist has zero proficiency in the technology they are attempting to showcase.

Baby Invasion is full frame of overlays and filters. Visual effects using artificial intelligence, video game engines, infrared depth and motion sensing, and datamoshing to name a few. Though the filmmaker seems satisfied with merely achieving the effect with little care for the end result.

It does have a very small amount of interesting naïve art. Though not always, you'll know when it's being displayed because they were smart enough to remove the simulated livestream chatroom overlay that otherwise takes up half of the frame throughout the 79 minute runtime.

I did enjoy the soundtrack which I felt accompanied the imagery well. The original score by Burial really carries the film, allowing it a chance that anyone would ever view it to the end.

It's surprising from the director of Spring Breakers to make something so different, but it's bursting with flaws despite all the creative ideas, it seems the director knew this but said 'Make it anyway!'

While the core concept and some individual sequences are enjoyable, the pacing suffers significantly from this unnecessary elongation the runtime is padded with excessively long, lingering shots that are boring, serve no narrative purpose and feel like filler just to make the footage movie length.

Or scenes that pause to flaunt their lavish effects where the movie wants to use effects just to use them.

Drags on but has a fun premise and execution overall.

It's a piece of art if you're seeking a high dose of emotions. Harmony Korine - you're a genius! This is something most of us have probably never seen before. It's a completely new approach to cinema, not meant for posers.

I hope you release more films like this. After Aggro Dr1ft, I was worried you'd try to force yourself in that direction and keep creating within that genre - but this is nothing like that. This is something totally unique. The power of emotions unleashed with every scene, the tension, the musical layer - it's simply a masterpiece. This is what I look for in art - and how I understand art.

This experiment of what constitutes film in a world of low attention spans and using multiple screens at the same time barrages the viewer with information and brainrot. A commentary on kids' access to violent media and how that affects their behavior, Baby Invasion is one of a kind, but not for long, as Korine predicts.

Harmony Korine, the filmmaker behind the scenes, has recently turned to experimental film and questions what will come of the film industry after cinema. He wonders if soon people won't be willing to sit for 90 minutes in a theater to watch a film. AGGRO DR1FT, his first dissection of this new 'post-cinema' movement likened this film in its equally unconventional format, being filmed entirely in thermal vision.

It is completely understandable why most people disliked the film, but innovation like this is crucial in an era of sequels, spinoffs, and the overall hypermonetization of film. The art form is becoming less of an art form and more just a vessel to harvest money. However, as opposed to fighting back against that system, Korine feeds into it and molds it into his own expression. Not everyone will like this film, but it's not made for everyone.

Doubling down on everything irritating found in AGGRO DR1FT, Baby Invasion soon becomes numbingly repetitive and could only have come from the clinically insane mind of Harmony Korine. Despite all the creative ideas and its attempt to further push the boundaries with his recent affiliations towards his EDGLRD aesthetic, the film ultimately settles for infantilised drivel, horrific sound design, nausea-inducing visuals and generative AI monstrosities. Lacking any form of cinematic style, Baby Invasion may attempt to simulate a video game but it fails to include the elements that have made gaming such a unique art form; be it a compelling narrative or even a satisfying gameplay loop. It's one thing to play a video game... but sitting down and watching one, especially as bad as this, is frankly quite boring. It's clear that Korine wants nothing to do with conventional cinema anymore, thriving on mere gimmicks, he thinks he's cracked the code on what comes next, but I sincerely hope he's miserably wrong.