When “Aggro Dr1ft,” the latest provocation from auteur Harmony Korine, premiered at a series of prestigious film festivals last fall, it played at the Sala Grande in Venice, the Royal Alexandra Theater in Toronto and the Walter Reade Theater in Lincoln Center in New York City. .
For the Los Angeles premiere of “Aggro Dr1ft” on Wednesday night, she performed at Crazy Girls, a strip club just off Sunset Blvd.
It says something about the brilliant genius of Korine's work that it feels equally suited to a conventional theatrical setting as to the most unconventional of venues. Crazy Girls had five large video screens flanking one wall, angled around a stage, plus two additional screens tied to poles and three more screens fixed to the ceiling. Given the reflective surfaces that covered much of the rest of the room, it sometimes seemed as if we were watching a movie from inside a disco mirror ball.
Audiences watch the Los Angeles premiere of director Harmony Korine's experimental film “Aggro Dr1ft,” which played on many screens at Hollywood's Crazy Girls strip club.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
The event was also an immersion into the world of EDGLRD, the Miami-based multidisciplinary multimedia company that is now home to Korine's creative endeavors at the crossroads of film, technology and culture. Pop-up events like this will take place in a handful of other cities (Mexico City will be next) before the film finally arrives on an as-yet-unnamed streaming platform. There was exclusive EDGLRD merchandise for sale: skateboard decks, hats, t-shirts and sweatshirts that will only be available at these tour events.
Filmed with thermal vision cameras before undergoing extensive post-production treatment, “Aggro Dr1ft” has a dreamy, blissful feel that is shaken by spasms of nightmarish violence and intensity. To the extent that the film has a story, it follows a Miami hitman (Jordi Molla) who dedicates himself to his shady affairs while only wanting to return to his wife and children.
Tonight there will be a second event at Crazy Girls. The film will also be screened three times on Friday and Saturday at the American Cinematheque headquarters in Los Feliz. (All five local screenings sold out quickly.) But celebrating the premiere in such a nontraditional space seems particularly appropriate, given the film's underworld setting, which includes scenes set in a strip club. With bikini-clad waitresses roaming the room and dancers doing their thing before and after the screening, the evening seemed to immerse itself in the world of the film.
“If you call it an immersive experience, it doesn't get to the core of the kind of party atmosphere we're going for,” said Eric Kohn, head of film strategy and development at EDGLRD. “There's something more lively and dynamic about doing something that people don't expect to see in a movie. “It's going the extra mile and turning it into something much more than a movie.”
A stripper dances as DJ AraabMuzik plays on a set after the Los Angeles premiere of director Harmony Korine's film “Aggro Dr1ft” at Crazy Girls in Hollywood.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Before the screening, an EDGLRD staff member admitted he wasn't sure if people would actually sit down for the screening or mill around the room in a more festive atmosphere. But the audience, which organizers estimated at about 400 people, remained absorbed in their chairs throughout, never seeming to disengage from the events on screen.
As a winged demon on screen exhorted a group of women to “Dance, bitches!” Anxious laughter echoed through the audience, the spectators seemed unsure whether to laugh. When rapper Travis Scott appeared for his brief role in the film, some excited screams arose from the crowd.
One of the club's dancers, who was named Asia, sat by her pole when the movie started, dollar bills scattered around her, and watched the entire movie. As the credits rolled, she stood up to prepare to return to work and resume her dancing. A curious person asked her what she thought.
“It was different,” Asia said with a mocking smile.
Strippers dance for attendees while off-camera director Harmony Korine DJs at their Los Angeles premiere.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
The staff hurriedly removed the folding chairs that had been placed around the room. Soon, the film's composer, the DJ and producer known as AraabMuzik, began a performance, maintaining the film's woozy, disorienting vibes. The audience crowded around the musician's stage right in front of the stage, as people alternately took pictures and danced.
Korine, wearing a fluorescent mask that covered most of his head and face, crossed the room. When people stopped him to talk or take pictures, the crowd eventually fell for him.
Once AraabMuzik's set ended, Korine came out for his own DJ set, his face now augmented with one of the 3D-printed horned masks he's frequently worn while promoting “Aggro Dr1ft.” He was flanked by several EDGLRD compatriots, also wearing 3D-printed masks. Three women had ghostly makeup and blood-stained nightgowns, like the girl from “The Ring” who went to a rave. There were also men in distorted Halloween masks and baseball caps brandishing colorful toy guns.
Director Harmony Korine, second from left in a mask, performs as a DJ at the premiere of her new film “Aggro Dr1ft.”
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
At times, Korine would appear on stage to dance and exhort the crowd, acting as his exaggerated self. The musical mix of reggaeton-influenced beats, thrash guitars, hyperpop and favela funk created a chaotic soundtrack while the dancing crowd seemed to be having a great time. As the evening progressed and the number of attendees began to dwindle, those who remained became increasingly wild, reaching a fever pitch with a cover of Rammstein's 1997 song, “Du Hast.”
“We're too precious in the way we talk about how movies go out into the world,” Kohn said. “This is not seen in the world of fine arts, it is not seen in the world of fashion, it is not seen in the skateboarding community, in all the different industries that we participate in. I think there's a lot more understanding that experimentation is key to what you do. “We need more of that thinking about what this art form is.”
At one point, a pair of women in tight black dresses were on stage dancing in front of a speaker. Judging by their confident movements, they seemed to belong there. At the back of the crowd, an EDGLRD event team member looked at a Crazy Girls staff member and asked, “Are those your girls?” After assessing their crushing bodies for a moment, the employee responded, “No.” They then went to the side of the stage so that security could take the women down.
However, shortly after, both dancers returned to the stage, where they stayed and became a more unexpected part of the party.
