CAROLINA CAROLINE

Carolina Caroline lets Samara Weaving and Kyle Gallner steal your heart with their electrifying romantic chemistry that brings to life this modern day Bonnie and Clyde southern crime thriller, that when paired with an excellent soundtrack of country music needle drops and a beautiful screenplay, ensures that Adam Carter Reheimer’s latest film is not only one of the best hidden gems of the year, but one of the best films of the year period!

There are some pairings of actors that deliver an unparalleled romantic chemistry when they star on screen together that you will watch anything they do together, such as pairings like Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, and Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. These pairings alone can sell a film, because audiences know that the romantic chemistry between the actors is going to be spectacular and will allow them to feel every emotional high and low of the story, ensuring an authentic connection with the characters and story these actors are bringing to life. Joining their ranks in Adam Carter Reheimer’s latest film is Samara Weaving and Kyle Gallner, as the romantic connection they develop together in Carolina Caroline is off the charts.

From the second their characters meet, there is an undeniable passion between them as Weaving’s sweet and innocent Caroline is immediately drawn to Gallner’s hustler Oliver, which only builds every second they share on screen together. It becomes an absolutely intoxicating chemistry that is at times playful, but also deep and soulful that finds an honest and beautiful romance between these two young individuals, and making their whirlwind romance believable. You believe that Gallner and Weaving would not only give up their freedom for each other, but die to ensure that the other survives, emotionally priming the audience for tragic heartbreak by the story’s final act. Weaving and Gallner make it feel both natural and timeless with their chemistry as its instant and out of this world, delivering the best romantic chemistry seen on screen since Glen Powell and Adria Arjona in Hit Man, making it an imperative that this is not the only film that Weaving and Gallner star together in.

Even as spectacular as they are together, Weaving and Gallner are both exceptional in their own individual performances. While best known for playing powerful final girls, Weaving finds a tenderness in Caroline, the small town, all American sweetheart looking to break free of her routine existence and discover who she is, bringing a sweet girl next door charm to the character that is infectious. Over the course of the film as Caroline embraces the danger and thrill of Oliver’s world, Weaving develops a grit to Caroline that allows her to rob banks alongside Oliver and leave the safety and comfort of her father’s world, but never loses sight of the innocent country girl that she used to be, ensuring that Caroline’s arc as she finds her place in the world never waivers. Being no stranger to indie films and darker characters, Gallner is excellent as Oliver with his devilish charm, but it is smooth presence and fierce, limitless loyalty and love he has for Caroline where Gallner not only shows a different, softer side to himself as an actor, but finds a heart throb leading man that audiences will fall in love with. There are few notable supporting performances, as the entirety of the film is largely Weaving and Gallner, but in a single scene, Kyra Sedgwick delivers an unforgettable performance that is not only against type for her, but so powerful that it will shake audiences and leave an unforgettable mark on both the film and Caroline’s character arc.

From a narrative perspective, there is an elegant simplicity to William Thomas Dean IV’s writing that evokes both a classic crime thriller and a swoon worthy romance to whisk viewers away. Drawing the audience in with that initial bill swapping gambit, pulling a fast one both on store owners and the audience, Dean IV quickly develops the bond between Caroline and Oliver to sell their whirlwind romance over the three month course that the story takes place during through the outlaw road trip narrative structure. In both strengthening the romance between Caroline and Oliver and building Caroline’s con and bank robbing skills, the story and the personal stakes evolve for Caroline as it moves from the light hearted and sweet summer romance of the first act to the more dangerous world that Oliver inhabits, echoing the moral journey of the characters. While building the romance and heist elements of the story, Dean IV grounds the screenplay with a focus on Caroline’s character, bringing this sheltered young woman out of her small town upbringings, exposing her to the possibilities of the larger world, but also the heartbreak that comes with a life out of the shelter and shortcomings of humanity. In doing so, Dean IV blends romance, the thrill of the crime genre, and a coming of age story to create an unforgettable film that both tugs on the heartstrings and has an undeniably beautiful, lyrical storytelling that mesmerizes from start to finish.

There’s a timeless quality to the production that is subtle, but one that effectively keeps the focus on Caroline and Oliver. Apart from televisions and vehicles, notably Oliver’s muscle car, there is no technology present in the film or on any of the set decorations. No cellphones, no computers, no ATMs, nothing. In their cons, Caroline and Oliver use landlines, payphones and simple sleight of hand, keeping the focus on them, their personalities and talents and not gizmos that replace them. While it feels like it could take place in the 1970s with the aesthetic, the film never feels like a period piece with its modernization of the storytelling and set decoration and costume design, creating a film that will age like a fine wine as there is nothing in it that will age poorly over time. This allows Reheimer and his team to capture an honesty focused on Caroline and Oliver’s relationship without distraction that would normally become part of a heist film. It’s something that viewers almost won’t notice, as the writing and characters are so compelling and the omission of technology is so subtle, but without these technological distractions, Dean IV’s beautiful character writing never leaves the film’s forefront.

Becoming an integral part of the film’s storytelling is its soundtrack of country music songs. Each song selection plays as an emotional note in both Caroline’s journey and the star-crossed love between Caroline and Oliver, and featuring songs from classic country music stars like Kris Kristofferson, Emmylou Harris and Loretta Lynn, it's a great collection of music and artists that becomes a character onto itself in the film alongside Caroline and Oliver. Though it is the use of Jason Isbell’s “Cover Me Up” that not only becomes the romantic anthem of the film, but plays beautifully across two integral scenes that will guarantee that tears will be flowing and that this song will forever be identified alongside Carolina Caroline by all who watch this film.

Not only is their chemistry reaching for the stars as you will be hard pressed to find better romantic chemistry between any two actors this year, but with their outstanding performances, Samara Weaving and Kyle Gallner arguably deliver the best performances of their careers in Carolina Caroline. As with all of Adam Carter Reheimer’s films, his confident direction brings expert blocking and craft to ensure that his vision is never sacrificed for a second, allowing William Thomas Dean IV’s writing to leap off the screen, delivering a film that is simultaneously commercial feeling and with all the charms of a homegrown indie. With a whirlwind romance and crime robbing spree that will steal your heart at every moment, Carolina Caroline is a deeply moving film that is championed by the out of this world romantic pairing and riveting performances of Samara Weaving and Kyle Gallner that cements this indie darling as one of the year’s best films to date!