I Saw ‘Hell Grind,’ the AI Film From Cannes. The Plot Is Nonsensical, but the Visuals Were Shockingly Realistic

By Corbin Bolies

Corbin Bolies

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Some facets of a trip to see an AI-generated movie mimic seeing a regular one. You’re seated in a theater, one thankfully with reclining chairs. Living, breathing human beings take up the seats surrounding you. A bowl of popcorn, ostensibly popped by humans, sits in front of you.

But everything you see and hear on the screen, from the characters traversing a city on skateboards to the pizza they eat between battle scenes to many of the songs scoring the film, is generated by AI. It is, in a word, surreal.

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