Magic Farm

In hopes of filming a special on a viral music clip, a US television crew arrive in San Cristóbal, Argentina, only to realise that the place they are looking for could be literally anywhere in Latin America. Dwindling funds due to a scandal surrounding the show’s producer (Simon Rex) force the team to stay on the project, so anchor Edna (Chloë Sevigny) and her lackeys (Alex Wolff, Joe Apollonio and director Amalia Ulman) decide to employ some artistic license in their report.

In her second feature, Ulman takes aim at exploitative media, the pliability of truth applied by certain news formats, and the misguided focus on inconsequential clickbait, while larger issues affecting the general population are ignored. As grave and hard-hitting as Magic Farm’s themes attempt to be, its style is offbeat, lively and colourful. The score consists of electronic beats by music producer Chicken. Fish-eyed GoPro recordings and vertical phone footage edited in TikTok fashion complement traditional shots and embellish the vibe the film wants to achieve, even as these gimmicks add little to the narrative. When the camera is not attached to stray dogs roaming the streets, it captures the invading humans trying and failing to connect to the natives. The fact that the protagonists are all more or less portrayed as amiable idiots rather than acting out of malicious intent, however, aids in their defence and somewhat undermines Ulman’s criticism of their behaviour.

The idle talent of the renowned cast speaks especially to the untapped potential of this production. Too little is asked of their performances, as the lines read trivial and the humour stays on surface level, never exhausting the comedy inherent to miscommunication and culture clashes.

Quirky and amusing, Magic Farm makes for an adequate pastime watch, but remains too noncommittal to make sufficient impact as a social satire.

Selina Sondermann

Magic Farm does not have a release date yet.

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