Magic Farm – Film Review

Director – Amalia Ulman
Writer – Amalia Ulman
Stars – Joe Apollonio, Camila del Campo, Guillermo Jacubowicz

Edna (Chloë Sevigny) is something of a TV legend. She hosts a TV show that plans to introduce music trends from around the world to Americans. Their aim is to break new music scenes in the U.S! There is one artist in particular they’re interested in: Super Carlitos. He performs loud rock music while wearing bunny ears, and he’s just what they’ve been looking for. The crew descend on San Cristóbal, in southern Argentina, to find this future rock sensation. The only problem is, Carlitos is based in Mexico! We meet the team of American reporters and filmmakers as they scramble to fill in the void in their TV schedule.

Despite the presence of Chloë Sevigny, this is very much an ensemble piece. The movie focuses on the rest of the team, with the well-meaning Jeff (Alex Wolff), Elena (Amalia Ulman) and Justin (Joe Apollonio) all struggling to integrate in this fish-out-of-water story. Their lack of understanding of local culture and language leaves them at odds with the residents, who seem intrigued by this TV crew!

It’s an interesting, if not highly original, set up. Despite what you would expect, this film doesn’t indulge in the obvious stereotypes. The locals don’t exploit the Americans, and the Americans are open to finding out about the lives of the residents. This is a gentle and light-hearted movie that examines the differences in cultures. The characters are nicely drawn out as the story drifts in several different directions with various subplots. If you’re looking for a plot-heavy, complex tale, you’ll need to look elsewhere. This is a subtle and well-meaning piece about characters. It could easily be argued that it’s a little self-indulgent, but this is a dreamy slice of soft-glow indie filmmaking.