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January 29, 2025Journalism, like other art forms, is something whose end result doesn’t always become clear until it’s finished. Chasing a story can be bold and valiant, but hours or even years of work and research may turn up little or nothing of interest. Some people also go looking for a story when there isn’t one there, putting an individual or a community in a spotlight that they don’t merit or want. Magic Farm follows a largely ineffective film crew filming a segment in Argentina, pursuing a loose concept of what they want to showcase with exactly the right level of laziness to lead nowhere.
Edna (Chloë Sevigny) is the face of a media company, working in collaboration with her husband Dave (Simon Rex). Their latest idea has brought them to Argentina looking for a reclusive musician, but their arrival to a hotel that isn’t what they had imagined starts a slow and less than invigorating path to nowhere. Their crew members Jeff (Alex Wolff), Justin (Joe Apollonio), and Elena (Amalia Ulman) each have weaknesses that greatly eclipse their strengths, understandably much more interested in serving their own needs than putting in the effort required to make this low-rent location shoot a success.
This is the second feature film from writer-director Ulman, who opts to cast herself in a supporting role in this ensemble-driven piece. The opening shot finds Edna recording a segment on an American street that feels less than genuine, and from the moment that, one year later, the crew shows up late at night to the Argentinian hotel (much more like a motel or hostel) that doesn’t have their reservations but does have rooms available, it’s clear that they’re all talk and don’t have much to back it up in terms of both journalistic integrity and true drive. When Jeff insists that the community they’ve come to visit is the one where viral videos were filmed, he’s told by a local that towns of the name exist in nearly every South American country, a helpful detail that might have saved a good chunk of this project’s shoestring budget.
While Sevigny and Rex are the big names in this cast, the focus is mostly on the three crew members. Jeff is hilariously droll and visibly lazy, and he’s often concerned more that people are mad at him than willing to accept any responsibility for his shortcomings. He also becomes obsessed with a local woman, Manchi (Camila del Campo), who for whatever reason finds him attractive. Justin is an idiot, and he spends most of his time grossly overpaying for SIM cards and flirting with the clueless hotel receptionist (Guillermo Jacubowicz). Elena is the most responsible of the three as the bookkeeper, but she can’t focus because of the pregnancy she’s carrying from a married man. Though she’s fluent in Spanish, she often lets Jeff and Justin bumble their way through miserable attempts at communication before chiming in with impeccable translations. Wolff, Apollonio, and Ulman all manage to make their deeply flawed characters extremely entertaining and believable, and del Campo and Jacubowicz are also quite memorable in unexpected supporting turns.
Dave quickly disappears towards the start of the film on business back home, and Edna is mostly seen complaining while dressed in a long-sleeve sweatshirt and shorts, indicating a discomfort and lack of interest in conforming to her environment. It‘s a role that fits Sevigny quite well, and she’s particularly fun to watch opposite Wolff. These characters drive a story that enjoys veering off-course, employing some truly bizarre cinematographic choices that jarringly shift the perspective for just a moment or two. There’s also a hallucinogenic feel to some scenes in between all the monotony that defines each character’s interactions with the place where they are. Despite its strangeness, it works, offering an alternately enchanting, dizzying, and disillusioning experience. Ulman has a distinct voice and vision, even if it’s not always easy to understand.
Movie Rating: 7/10