THE STORY – A film crew working for an edgy media company travels to Argentina to profile a local musician, but their ineptitude leads them into the wrong country. As the crew collaborates with locals to fabricate a trend, unexpected connections blossom while a pervasive health crisis looms unacknowledged in the background.
THE CAST – Chloë Sevigny, Alex Wolff, Amalia Ulman, Joe Apollonio, Camila del Campo & Simon Rex
THE TEAM – Amalia Ulman (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 93 Minutes
If you managed to find a more incompetent group of people than the one seen in Amalia Ulman’s “Magic Farm,” I would be shocked. It’s not just the fact that they can’t do basic research for their next documentary project or speak a lick of Spanish. They genuinely can’t seem to do anything, and I mean anything, right during their few short days in Argentina. Of course, all that messiness leads to big laughs in Ulman’s second feature-length film, especially as this documentary film crew veers into unethical territory while attempting to meet their deadline. As fun as it is to see this cast get through this crisis together, “Magic Farm” also gets lost, forgetting to give its stars anything substantial to do and missing the mark on its most interesting ideas.
This chaotic crew consists of exasperated boss Edna (Chloë Sevigny), useless boyfriend/manager Dave (Simon Rex, who exits the movie far too quickly), hopeless romantic Jeff (Alex Wolff), clueless sweetheart Justin (Joe Apollonio), and secretly pregnant camera operator/unofficial Spanish translator Elena (Ulman). Seemingly never able to stick to a budget or deadline, it’s a wonder how this dysfunctional group manages to have a documentary series of any kind. Their latest assignment consists of spotlighting a local musician, but because they’re them, they end up in the wrong country, where barely anyone is familiar with the artist.
What’s a documentary film crew to do when their original plan falters? Make up a fake social media trend story with the locals, of course! Over a few days, the crew gets to know the residents. There’s the front desk receptionist (Guillermo Jacubowicz) and his little boy, towards whom Justin gravitates. With the former, he has some silly, sometimes awkward, and sometimes reciprocated romantic moments. A gorgeous Manchi (Camila del Campo) catches Jeff’s eye, and he falls a little too quickly and desperately in love with her. Wolff gets the most screen time among this ensemble and is an absolute hoot, nailing his comedic timing and making Jeff such a love-sick sucker. Some of the other players, however, get left behind. Sevigny essentially spends the whole movie walking around in her tabis, petting horses every so often and pouting about the situation. She’s entirely underutilized and separated from the main action, aside from a few intense conversations. Similarly, Elena’s storyline is undercooked, leading to more questions than answers about her pregnancy.
What “Magic Farm” does best is showcase the vibrancy found in this Argentine village and how much the filmmakers are fish out of water here. Neighborhoods feature homes of all colors and designs, a stark difference from the concrete jungle these New Yorkers are used to, and fisheye shots effectively capture some of the more desolate areas. To get any service, they buy SIM cards — Jeff has a very funny money snafu while doing so — while locals like Manchi climb a tree to get a signal to send a thirst trap. Unfortunately, our band of misfits is too dim-witted to notice the beauty around them, let alone a very serious health crisis involving birth defects from pesticide use. Ulman cleverly plants these seeds throughout the film — residents casually disclose their health conditions in conversations, and news reports are heard in the background — but of course, none of the Americans notice, causing them to miss out on an actual documentary topic, not some manufactured trend. It’s an interesting commentary on how easily people, including members of the media, can have horse blinders on as they drop into communities without truly getting to know their struggles. If only this could have been explored more throughout the movie. An elderly woman might also be a member of a religious cult, but Ulman stops short of diving into what would have been another funny scenario for the crew.
On the one hand, “Magic Farm” is full of laughs and entertaining cringe moments, elevated by a great group of misfits. On the other hand, it manages to underutilize key cast members and fails to dig into interesting topic areas. There’s an exceptional social commentary film waiting to be made from all of these elements, but like the making of the one within the movie itself, “Magic Farm” needs a bit more work.
