‘Magic Farm’ Review – Amalia Ulman’s Sloppy Sophomore Feature

One of the first films to screen at Sundance 2025, Amalia Ulman’s Magic Farm has made its wide theatrical release courtesy of MUBI. The Argentinian artist is no stranger to Sundance, as her feature debut El Planeta also premiered at Sundance 2021. Her latest film takes place in her home country as a group of video journalists mistakenly travel to a small town in northern Argentina to film a story on a strange musician. The show’s premise involves Edna (Chloe Sevigny) traveling around the globe doing stories on strange trends from different parts of the world. Her crew consists of writer/researcher Jeff (Alex Wolff), cameraman Justin (Joe Apollonio), and overall producers Elena (Ulman) and Dave (Simon Rex), the latter of whom Edna is romantically involved.

After Jeff has identified a South American musician who dresses up like a bunny, the team heads south from New York to investigate and shoot the story. Unfortunately for Jeff, his only contact was a woman named Marita who is nowhere to be found upon their arrival. This sets up the timeless “fish-out-of-water” premise that has been explored many times throughout film history. The only person who can speak Spanish from the team is Manchi (Camila del Campo), and a majority of the townspeople cannot speak English. Only the innkeeper and some of the younger generation can speak to them.

The film’s style is no surprise given Ulman’s presence as an artist outside of filmmaking. Many of the establishing shots between scenes employ some wacky techniques not seen in your typical narrative feature. An inverted panoramic is used several times as we transition from one scene to the next, which makes for a more engrossing experience. It’s hard to want to look at your phone between scenes with such interesting images on the screen. She uses a lot of interesting colors and shadings throughout the film as well, a great contrast to the uniform aesthetic the town possesses. 

Labeled as an absurdist comedy, Magic Farm could stand to lean more into the absurd. Wolff seems to be the actor most in the know of what kind of movie he’s in, and provides the funniest moments of the film. He plays the quintessential late-20s emotionally stunted boy who likes to play the field but can’t take responsibility for any of his actions. He quickly changes moods to manipulate his audience into pitying him instead of keeping him accountable. 

Outside of the comedic aspects, the film has some tender moments that come from relationships that form between the townspeople and the production crew. Justin befriends the innkeeper (Guillermo Jacubowicz) and they become enamored with each other. Their budding relationship grounds the rest of the film and provides some much-needed character development lacking in the rest of the cast. Despite Sevigny’s Edna being the star of the show they are producing, her character takes quite the back seat to the rest of her crew. It seems like such a waste to have a name like that in the cast and barely utilize them. The rest of the characters have their moments, but don’t especially shine like Wolff. 

Ulman’s vision here is ambitious but doesn’t quite come together. It’s funny to see idiotic Americans stumbling through a small South American town, but there’s no substance outside of this premise that gets old by the end of the first act. The funny moments work quite well, but there’s not enough between these moments to keep the viewer engaged. 

Even though Magic Farm is unsuccessful, Ulman is an incredibly exciting director moving forward. Her visual style and mold-breaking camera techniques are bound to work well on a better script.

Magic Farm is currently playing in theaters courtesy of MUBI.