Corinne’s Harmony with a Cigar in Venice: The Collapse of Hollywood Has Begun
According to cinemadrame, the film “Baby Invasion” directed by Harmony Korine received severely negative reviews at the 81st Venice Film Festival. This experimental thriller, like Korine’s “Aggro Dr1ft,” received long applause but also caused many viewers to leave the theater.
“Baby Invasion” is described as an interactive thriller depicting the attack of mercenaries with baby faces on the mansions of the wealthy. Variety reported that the film was applauded for eight and a half minutes at Venice, though many viewers left the theater.
Korine, during the film’s press conference with a cigar in hand and Gaspar Noé by his side, stated that “Hollywood has started to collapse”: “They’ve been very attached to traditions, and on the other hand, all the creative kids are looking for other paths and going in different directions because cinema is no longer the dominant art form.”
The filmmaker said that audiences will only understand the “first layer” of the film: “When we release it, you can watch it on your mobile phones, but there are certain codes within the film that lead you to other films. So, what you watch is just the first layer. There are three or four sub-films.”
Korine further explained that for the key roles, he used actors with a history of home invasions and, like Aggro Dr1ft, he did not create the film based on a traditional screenplay: “Some of the actors were actually people who had tried to steal from many of my friends… When they were arrested, we chose them, and it gives the film a sense of augmented reality.”
Baby Invasion received numerous negative reviews after its screening in Venice. A Vulture critic wrote that the film “made me feel sick,” while a Telegraph critic called it “the stupidest film of my life.”
