‘Magic Farm’ Review: Amalia Ulman's Stylish, Witty Satire Sees American Journalists Stranded in Argentina | Sundance 2025
El Planeta director Amalia Ulman is back with her sophomore feature, Magic Farm. Unlike her black-and-white mother-daughter endeavor, her latest comedy finds her returning to her visual artist roots. Much of her visual art criticized modernist subcultures while incorporating a Y2K-era style, wry humor, and pouring love for her birthplace, Argentina. This witty satire about exploitative American digital media journalists winding up in the wrong country highlights all her trademarks and makes for a fairly entertaining time.
Image copyright (©) Courtesy of Spacemaker
MPA Rating: Not Yet Rated
Runtime: 1 Hour and 33 Minutes
Production Companies: Spacemaker Productions, Mubi, Tango Entertainment, REI Cinema, Icki Eneo Arlo
Distributor: Mubi
Director: Amalia Ulman
Writer: Amalia Ulman
Cast: Chloë Sevigny, Alex Wolff, Joe Appollonio, Guillermo Jacubowicz, Amalia Ulman, Camila Del Campo, Mateo Vaquer Ruiz de los Llanos, Abuela Marita, Valeria Lois, Simon Rex, Santino Martinelli, Ale Ulman
Release Date: N/A
A media team resembling that of BuzzFeed, consisting of Edna (Chloë Sevigny), Jeff (Alex Wolff), Justin (Joe Apollonio), Elena (Amalia Ulman), and their producer/Edna’s husband Dave (Simon Rex), treks to South America to find a musician who started a funny trend. When they land in Argentina, they can’t find any information about the person, realizing they landed in the wrong country. Dave dips out and leaves the rest to fend for themselves. The crew tries to make a fake documentary video while going on miscellaneous adventures with people within the community. Meanwhile, they're oblivious to the reality plaguing Argentina that’s ripe for actual reporting.
Magic Farm Is Like a Long Episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia If The Gang Were Millennials
Ulman is a stylistic filmmaker, yet one of her strongest suits is her character writing and how she mines natural humor based on her familiar characters' personalities and interactions with the world around them. Magic Farm’s ensemble is like the gang from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia if they were dime square millennials who worked at BuzzFeed. They are among the most inept and self-centered individuals, yet their patheticism makes you laugh. Jeff and Justin in particular represent Dennis and Mac, if Dennis were a soybean whiny loser and Mac wasn’t a misogynist. The subplots amid making the fake documentary – Jeff trying to attract the attention of an aspiring Instagram model, Manchi (real-life model Camila del Campo), and Justin befriending the hotel's receptionist (Guillermo Jacubowicz) and his son – are humorous and feel like bits ripped straight out of an episode, with the usual “Temptation Sensation” substituted with Burke Battelle's (credited as Chicken) rhythmic reggaeton score.
Magic Farm's Ladies Don't Have Much to Do Except For Manchi
Wolff and Apollonio are hilarious. The boys get to have all the fun, and the women don't get much to do. Ulman's Elena is the straight woman responsible person and translator. She operates as a chance for Ulman to show off her dramatic side, for she harbors a secret that, when revealed, is not as thematically or comedically relevant as everyone else's. Sevigny's Edna isn’t present for an extended period, leaving only the imagery of Sevigny strolling through an Argentinean town in Tabis, accompanied by tracking fish-eyed lens shots, to stand out. You want more of her because, well, it's Sevigny. However, the Argentinean resident Manchi is given more focus out of all the females. Through Manchi, Ulman exhibits a captivating surrealist feminine gaze. Campo's blunt attitude, chemistry with Wolff, and grounded fierceness make for a standout performance.
A New Kind of Culture Clash
Most of Magic Farm sees these characters vibing in Argentina, held together by humor and Ulman's 2000s-era retro style. It doesn't focus on the fake documentary process as she's more interested in merely exploring a haunting viewpoint on how far digital journalism strayed within the last decade. Americans in these media outlets, such as BuzzFeed, NowThis, and Vice, would travel to foreign countries for exploitation, without any regard for journalistic integrity, just to get sweet ol' views. Ulman throws an environmental and health issue about glyphosates in the crew's face, ready to be reported. The crew is reminded of this on three occasions, one being life-threatening, but not a single creative brain cell is connected between its four members to acknowledge it. It’s so authentic to reality of what the field has become to date.
However, while she justifiably frames her American ensemble as the idiots they are, her dynamic with the Argentinean people they hang with during their subplots nicely develops and results in a genuine heartfelt connection toward its finale.
Final Thoughts
Amalia Ulman’s Magic Farm is a highly entertaining and stylish commentary on media journalism in the current age with an It’s Always Sunny wit, despite some repetitive aimless plotting and underutilization of its starry cast. Seriously, not enough Simon and Sevigny!
