A less charitable description of Adam Carter Rehmeier’s lovers-on-the-run film Carolina Caroline would be to call it “formulaic.” I much prefer “archetypal”. It just sounds better. The doomed couple played by Samara Weaving and Kyle Gallner are familiar; dreamers who flee sheltered lives for one of fun, excitement, passion, and yes, crime. We’ve seen their like before in everything from Bonnie & Clyde to Badlands to Natural Born Killers. There’s nothing wrong with any of this. These movies have endured for a reason, and speak to the part in all of us that imagine a more thrilling existence.
Penned by Tom Dean, Carolina Caroline follows the expected storybeats and arcs. Weaving plays small-town West Texas girl Caroline, who dreams of traveling although she can only think as far away as South Carolina, where her estranged mother (Kyra Sedgewick) lives. When shifty outsider Oliver walks into the filling station where she works, we know that she is instantly smitten with this mysterious drifter. Gallner plays Oliver like a soulful, enigmatic conman with the heart of a poet. We know from that moment he’s in love with her, too. Carolina sees through Oliver’s simple cons used to exploit the locals. He tempts her with stories of travel to destinations anywhere and everywhere. And to Oliver’s credit, he’s genuinely romantic and kind, showing unusual sensitivity to Carolina’s hopes. In too many similar movies, Oliver would be stereotypically “cool”, but what’s refreshing is how often he lets his guard down around her.
The crime spree involves robbing banks, justified by Oliver in that nobody really gets hurt by it other than shareholders. Carolina, while maybe a bit too trusting, is never shown to be one of Oliver’s victims. She’s not naive in all of this. She goes along with Oliver’s schemes because she wants to, because she hopes it will lead to the life she has always wanted, alongside her soulmate. We know that stories like theirs always end in tragedy, but that thought never crosses their minds until it’s too late. And when it does, during one final slow dance, it’s a real heartbreaker to see the little world they created for each other shatter into a million pieces.
Rehmeier captures small-town nostalgia and whimsy similar to his films Dinner in America and Snack Shack. It’s unclear exactly when Carolina Caroline takes place, but it’s a time when you can find pay phones on every corner and the gas is $1.45, so definitely not contemporary. Once again, Rehmeier proves expert at making the most out of what is surely a minimal budget. On a few occasions, particularly during the daring heists, does the film appear a bit too slickly produced, eschewing the naturalism that is such a plus elsewhere.
Weaving and Gallner show incredible chemistry, both as romantic partners and as partners-in-crime. It’s definitely a different role for Weaving, who we are so accustomed to seeing as a badass who can withstand anything. Carolina, while hardly what anyone would call weak, has a fragility that we see most during interactions with her father (Jon Gries), who encourages her to leave home, and with her trampy mom who doesn’t have a nurturing bone in her body. I can’t remember a time when I’ve liked Gallner this much, his Oliver containing heartbreak and menace in equal measure.
Carolina Caroline isn’t full of surprises, it doesn’t break the mold, and perhaps it could’ve gone further to be at least somewhat ambitious. What stands out are the performances by Weaving and Gallner, and the love between Caroline and Oliver that shines through even when life is at its darkest.
Magnolia Pictures and Magnet Releasing open Carolina Caroline in theaters on June 5th.
