THE STORY – A young woman joins a charming con man on the run, leaving a trail of crime and passion as they hustle through the Southeast in search of her estranged mother.
THE CAST – Samara Weaving, Kyle Gallner, Kyra Sedgwick & Jon Gries
THE TEAM – Adam Carter Rehmeier (Director) & Tom Dean (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 105 Minutes
It was tough to imagine what a pure crime film from Adam Carter Rehmeier might have looked like before the premiere of “Carolina Caroline”. After all, his previous film, “Snack Shack,” was a pure coming-of-age jaunt about summertime adolescence. But Rehmeier appears to be full of surprises with his third film this decade. Although the stars of his latest film aren’t in their teenage years, this story still focuses on two central figures seeking a new version of themselves. Perhaps Oliver (Kyle Gallner) has already embraced the current version of himself as the best it’s going to get. But Caroline Daniels (Samara Weaving) is still waiting for the opportunity to make that journey of self-discovery. Lucky for her, she already knows exactly where she needs to go. She is being drawn to South Carolina in the hopes of finding her mother, who abandoned her before she even turned one. But this isn’t immediately revealed to the audience. Before any of that development, we meet Caroline at quite an interesting time in her life. The only thing we can confidently say is that she knows her way around some business that looks a bit shady.
Caroline may have appeared on screen stumbling around and puking, but it’s only a few seconds later that she pulls a gun on an unassuming stranger without a moment of hesitation. Whatever brought her this close to the edge has hardened her. And part of the drama in this film can be found in the internal battle justifying this hard exterior. Following a slick montage that will leave the audience firmly planted in their seats, Caroline is seen waiting at a bus stop. There’s a smash cut to three months prior, and Rehmeier frames Caroline the same way. In both instances, she’s just waiting to be whisked away to someplace different. And upon arriving at the small Texas convenience store where she works, which is where this story truly begins, it’s Oliver who comes to take her to that different place. Gallner enters Caroline’s store, and thereby the film, with such charismatic swagger. One look at him, and both Caroline and the audience will undoubtedly sneak several, and you can tell he’s bad news. But the rational part of the brain is far too quiet in the presence of such loud star power. It’s in this introduction that “Carolina Caroline” lays its cards flat out on the table. Crime simply hasn’t felt this hot, or this exciting, in quite some time.
Despite it being a very small-time con that Oliver initially pulls (and it’s a very fun one to try and wrap your head around), it’s a smooth-talking endeavor that we become instantly transfixed by. Caroline falls under the same spell as the audience, but she’s the lucky one. She has the immediate ability to follow up and see how it’s done. From there, both the film and its central characters are emboldened by the chemistry the two share. It’s a shining modern example of movie star aura. It begs the question of what’s more intoxicating, the crimes themselves, or the criminal partnership that can’t stop raising the stakes? Tom Dean’s sharp script seems to believe the two are inextricable from one another. After their romance blossoms into something too tantalizing to ignore further, Caroline decides to hit the road with Oliver and make her journey alongside his small-time crime escapades. But with a sultry look and delivery practically right to the camera, she implores her new lover to teach her all the ways of how to properly con. This introduction sets the stage for a montage that practically sizzles with lustful chemistry, but it also incorporates a romantic element.
Up until this point, Caroline has lived in the same Texas town her entire life. Over the course of some pillow talk with Oliver, she admits her desire to break free from all that she’s known. She’s lived with her father (Jon Gries) her entire life, who can’t help but feel his age when recognizing he’s been repeating the same set of stories for years now. It’s in this dialogue between father and daughter that Dean and Rehmeier plant the first seeds of what’s to come throughout the rest of their film. This is a film about how enticing a life of crime can be. But it’s also about how we hope to escape our current situations, or even ourselves, in some capacity. Crime is only the form chosen in this particular film, but it’s a theme Rehmeier has explored before throughout the rest of his career across several different avenues. Importantly, “Carolina Caroline”isn’t a film about why it’s necessary to get up and leave familiar surroundings for fear of being held back. It’s quite the opposite. This film grapples with the dilemma of being unsure whether we should stay or go in the first place.
There’s a comfort to this small-town pocket of Americana stillness Caroline has grown accustomed to. And through Oliver admitting to liking the people he meets in small towns more than those “made of drywall” in big cities, it appears Rehmeier and Dean agree with their character. It doesn’t matter to Caroline that her father keeps repeating stories of raising her. She understands and can appreciate the beauty in her stagnancy. But it would also be a crime to ignore the part of her that’s seeking more. As such, she feels the call to join Oliver on his small-time crime spree across the country. They’ll eventually make it to South Carolina, and it’s there that Caroline hopes to find the truest version of herself. But why not have a ton of fun making money along the way? It’s in the results of these decisions that Dean and Rehmeier can flip “Carolina Caroline” upside down. And it’s this shift in tone and substance that transforms a fun genre film into a compelling and empathetic human drama.
At one point in the film, Caroline, surrounded by freshly stolen bills and Oliver all over her, breathlessly states that she wants it to keep going. It’s a scene that highlights the stimulating nature of crime for those involved, as well as for us, the audience, who observe it through a screen. Does that desire ever go away completely? Or does it simply keep growing until something frightens us to our core? Across the back half of the film, frights like these repeatedly occur. It has a sobering effect on the overall vibe of “Carolina Caroline,” and for good reason. The fun of everything we’ve seen up until this point is confronted with the truth of the matter. Caroline has made it to the end of her road, and what she’s seen has changed her entire perception of both herself and the world around her. The only thing she seems to care about now is getting her and Oliver as far away from it all as she possibly can. Perhaps she can escape for good. It’s here that Dean and Rehmeier shift the focus of the film away from the actual crime, and more so on the human component at the center of it all.
For all the fearlessness displayed by Caroline during her crime spree, Weaving balances this with the palpable nerves of her character in other scenarios quite well. Caroline becomes a shell of her former self, yet remains a charismatic and complex figure throughout the remainder of the film. As unreal tension makes way for calamity, “Carolina Caroline” shows how easily life can spiral out of control. Even still, there’s an empathy captured by the filmmakers towards these two crooks that roots the film with a deep sweetness. We just want them to be able to go back home together and be content with what they have. But is that even possible? Can any of us genuinely feel content where we are? Or will we always be looking down the road seeking more? Where “Carolina Caroline” leaves this question hanging for the audience is quite the cherry on top of a wonderfully delightful film.
