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Harmony Korine’s much-awaited movie “Baby Invasion” has taken the 78th Venice International Film Festival by storm. The movie’s world premiere was screened in the Italian city on September 7th. While the pandemic has kept the festival’s attendance down, the excitement surrounding this new work by the director of cult movies like “Gummo” and “Spring Breakers” was undeniable.
The plot of “Baby Invasion” is, as usual for Korine, anything but conventional. The movie follows a group of infants who escape a daycare center and take to the streets, where they form intricate gangs. Korine shot the movie guerrilla-style, using hidden cameras to capture genuine reactions from passersby. The result is a unique mix of documentary and fiction that impressed the audience at the film festival.
The movie’s bold visuals, catchy soundtrack, and chaotic energy have delighted some and outraged others, but few can deny its incendiary originality. For lovers of the avant-garde, “Baby Invasion” is a must-see, and the fact that it received the prestigious Golden Lion award at Venice shows that the movie has some heavyweight supporters in the film industry.
If you’re curious about “Baby Invasion” and want to know more about it, keep reading. We have gathered some essential information, trivia, and opinions on the movie, along with insights into Korine’s artistic vision and the reactions from critics and audiences.
What Is “Baby Invasion” About?
As mentioned, “Baby Invasion” portrays the adventures of a group of babies who escape from their daycare facility and start wandering around the city streets. Instead of being scared or helpless, the infants exhibit impressive survival skills, team up, and create their own social structure, with a hierarchy, rituals, and a unique language made of babbling and gurgling.
Meanwhile, the adults around them react in different ways: some ignore them, some find them cute and amusing, some are repulsed, and some are outright hostile. The movie portrays a clash between innocence and corruption, as the ruthless world of adults collides with the anarchic but still pure worldview of the infants.
Korine doesn’t shy away from controversial themes and images: there are scenes of violence, drug use, sexual innuendos, and general mayhem that may shock some viewers. However, the movie also has a strong comedic and poetic streak, with tender moments of bonding between the babies and vignettes of random humor that showcase Korine’s knack for oddball characters and surreal situations.
Who Is Harmony Korine?
Harmony Korine is a multi-disciplinary artist known for his bold and unconventional approach to storytelling. Born in 1973 in Bolinas, California, Korine grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, where his father was a tap dancer and his mother a documentary filmmaker. As a teenager, Korine fell in love with skateboarding, graffiti, and hip-hop, which he credits as crucial influences on his art.
Korine made his breakthrough as a screenwriter when he was only 19, with the controversial movie “Kids” (1995), directed by Larry Clark. The movie portrayed a day in the life of a group of teenagers in New York City, and dealt with topics like sex, drugs, and AIDS in a raw and realistic manner that shocked and fascinated audiences. The script, written in a fragmented and poetic style, marked Korine as a rising star of the independent film scene.
Two years later, Korine made his directorial debut with “Gummo,” a movie shot in a neo-realistic style that depicted the daily lives of dysfunctional characters in a small town in Ohio. The movie was divisive, with some critics hailing it as a masterpiece of humanist cinema and others dismissing it as a pointless and pretentious exercise in shock value. However, “Gummo” gained a cult following and cemented Korine’s reputation as a maverick filmmaker.
Korine continued to explore unconventional themes and styles in movies like “Julien Donkey-Boy” (1999), “Mister Lonely” (2007), and “Trash Humpers” (2009), and also wrote novels, short stories, and essays. However, his biggest commercial success came with “Spring Breakers” (2012), a movie that mixed pop culture and arthouse sensibilities to depict a group of college girls who go on a crime spree during their vacation in Florida. The movie starred James Franco, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, and Ashley Benson, and generated buzz for its neon-colored visuals, catchy soundtrack, and social commentary on American hedonism.
What Are Critics Saying About “Baby Invasion”?
As always with Korine’s movies, “Baby Invasion” has polarized critics. Some have praised it as a daring and visionary work that challenges the boundaries between reality and fiction, innocence and transgression, and aesthetics and ethics. Others have criticized it as a preachy and infantile exercise in shock value that lacks coherence, depth, and meaning.
The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney gave the movie a positive review, saying that “Korine pulls off a raid on reality with panache, unhindered by storytelling conventions or formulaic structures.” He wrote that “the giddy escapades of the infant gang, with their purposeful forays and secret codes, call to mind William Golding’s ‘Lord of the Flies,’ except the savages are still too young to know what they’re doing. Cheek to cheek with toilet humor and cartoonish violence, there’s a strong undercurrent of social satire in the depiction of adult behavior as an escapist preoccupation as tempting as narcotics.”
On the other hand, Variety’s Owen Gleiberman was less impressed, calling the movie “a one-joke sketch of dubious taste.” He wrote that the movie “feels more like a prank than a film, an elaborate exercise in bad taste and infantile aggression that, like so much of Korine’s work, doesn’t know when to stop.” He criticized the movie for its “tedious repetition, cheesy effects, and overly familiar parade of shadowy adult figures who leer, cringe, or bludgeon their way through the film.”
What Are Audiences Saying About “Baby Invasion”?
Due to the limited physical attendance at Venice, it’s hard to gauge the audience’s reaction to “Baby Invasion” accurately. However, some reports suggest that the movie received both enthusiastic applause and boos during its premiere, which indicates that it provoked strong emotions in the viewers.
On social media, the reaction to the movie has been similarly mixed. Some users praised the movie’s originality, humor, and boldness, while others criticized it for being pointless, offensive, and kitschy. Some users even compared it to other movies, like “The Warriors,” “Trainspotting,” or “Babies,” to highlight its similarities or differences.
Benefits and Practical Tips
If you’re a Harmony Korine fan, a lover of experimental cinema, or just curious about “Baby Invasion,” here are some benefits and practical tips to keep in mind:
– The movie is a visual and sonic feast, with stunning and surreal images, an eclectic soundtrack that ranges from classical music to rap, and humorous and poetic interludes that defy categorization.
– The movie is also a thought-provoking and timely commentary on the state of the world, reflecting on issues like gentrification, consumerism, addiction, and the role of media in shaping our perceptions.
– The movie may not be suitable for all audiences, as it contains scenes of violence, drug use, sexual innuendos, and general mayhem that may offend or disturb some viewers.
– The movie is best enjoyed in a theater, where you can immerse yourself in its visuals and sounds and experience the reactions of other viewers in real-time.
– The movie is worth discussing with others, whether you agree or disagree with its themes and style. It’s a great conversation starter, and it can stimulate creative and critical thinking about the relationship between art and society.
Case Studies
Here are some case studies of other movies that share some similarities with “Baby Invasion,” either in terms of style or subject matter:
– “The Warriors” (1979) is a movie directed by Walter Hill that portrays a gang of teenagers who must fight their way back to their home turf in New York City after being framed for a murder they didn’t commit. Like “Baby Invasion,” it features colorful and diverse characters, striking visuals, and a catchy and iconic soundtrack.
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