I was intrigued by Magic Farm’s
premise. The film, from writer-director Amalia Ulman, is meant to be a satire of media’s exploitation, but the execution leaves much to be desired. The film opens with a media team filming Chloë Sevigny’s Edna as she discusses the latest trend. Her team follow these trends worldwide and interview people for their videos. And while the film has its moments of genuine humor, it never lives up to the energy or intrigue of the opening scene. The rest of the film is an empty, exhausting watch that never truly builds towards anything.

Release Date

January 28, 2025

Runtime

93 Minutes

Director

Amalia Ulman

Writers

Amalia Ulman

On one hand, the film explores how an American crew swoops into a small Argentinian town and shakes up the daily lives of its citizens before leaving with little to no consequence. Of course, there are relationships and bonds forged through the experience, namely between Joe Apollonio’s Justin and the kind-hearted and gentle receptionist at the crew’s hotel (Guillermo Jacubowicz). On the other hand, Magic Farm is chaotic and simultaneously tedious to get through.
Magic Farm Is A Slow-Paced & Tedious Film

Its main characters, save for Justin and Elena (Ulman), who’s pregnant and hasn’t told anyone but Justin because the consequences are too difficult to deal with, are grating, and it could have gotten to its point a bit quicker. Magic Farm, if you’ve already gleaned from its title, employs some surrealism to tell its story, but it’s limited and shaky at best. It meanders as the characters get to know the local community and much of the conflict — involving Edna’s partner Dave (Simon Rex), who appears in a few scenes before his character jets off to New York — happens offscreen and through phone calls.

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It’s anticlimactic, with little emotional tension to carry Magic Farm through to the end. By the film’s final moments, I was relieved the characters were leaving town, despite the deceit they left in their wake. That’s ultimately the point of the film, but it wasn’t very incisively or thoroughly explored. Even the character who appears in the film’s second scene disappears and doesn’t reappear until its final moments, where Elena confronts her for abandoning the crew. But the calm confrontation doesn’t hold any weight to it and, had it been removed entirely, wouldn’t have affected the film at all.
Magic Farm Has A Couple Of Bright Spots But They’re Overshadowed By The Film’s Issues

What the film does occasionally well is portraying the ridiculousness of the media crew, who are so intent on getting the story of a local musician — even if they’re in the wrong country due to faulty information from Alex Wolff’s Jeff — that they would create one just to have a story and maintain their popularity. This speaks to the content creators who are constantly and consistently creating, regardless of what it is, to prevent from falling out of favor with their audiences and algorithms. The characters lie and manipulate, all so they can get a story.

The cast is largely wasted as the film moves at a snail’s pace to its end, which is sad but has little impact.

And while only Justin really comes to care deeply about someone and his and Elena’s friendship is lovely, the rest of the characters express little else besides annoyance. Sevigny is good, but she doesn’t get too much to do here besides react to everything around her. She occasionally talks to a local horse, but there’s little exploration of what’s going on with her. Wolff’s Jeff is the wild card of the group, but besides being all over the place, his character offers very little.

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I liked that we got to actually know the townspeople; they weren’t just empty shells the characters were screwing over. They had lives and opinions and dreams. But besides the few bright spots, Magic Farm doesn’t add up to anything meaningful, nor is its satire as sharp or as interesting as it perhaps wants to be. The cast is largely wasted as the film moves at a snail’s pace to its end, which is sad but has little impact.
Magic Farm premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.

Magic Farm

Release Date

January 28, 2025

Runtime

93 Minutes

Director

Amalia Ulman

Writers

Amalia Ulman

Pros & Cons

The film is slow and tedious
The characters have little depth and exploration
The satire aspect needs work