TIFF 2025: ‘Carolina Caroline’ Review
There’s still a certain allure to the idea of drifting through rural America with nothing but a reliable set of wheels and an open road ahead of you. If you can ignore the politics of the world around you and find a means to make ends meet, it’s a tempting escape. However, the retreat can’t last forever, especially once human desire gets in the way to complicate matters. This is where we join Oliver (Kyle Gallner) as his paths cross with the restless, but sheltered, Caroline (Samara Weaving) and the two fall head over heels for each other in Adam Carter Rehmeier’s latest film. Another dependably heartfelt addition to Rehmeier’s impressive survey of Americana, Carolina Caroline is a cross-country Bonnie and Clyde riff that leverages the chemistry of its stars and a breezy screenplay until their brief escape comes crashing down to reality.
After witnessing the drifting Oliver pull off a simple, stylish con to shortchange her boss, Caroline becomes fascinated by the brazen criminal. A few beers later, and a pleasant night of conversation is enough to sell the intense relationship blossoming between the two. Given the opportunity to live a life that seems far more exciting than her own, Caroline leaves her home behind in Texas to learn the art of the con from her new boyfriend. With only a destination—South Carolina, where Caroline’s birth mother allegedly resides—and a confidence that this is what she’s been waiting for her whole life, the two set off across America. Instantly taking to the high of the grift and pulling off complex maneuvers with ease, she soon convinces Oliver to escalate their get-rich-quick schemes and pull off quick bank robberies.
Perhaps the greatest con that Rehmeier pulls with Carolina Caroline is getting two of the most charming lead performances to obfuscate the ethical murkiness of Caroline and Oliver’s situation long enough that you get wrapped up in the emotional unravelling. Weaving has consistently delivered dependable work, and Gallner has always had a charisma that lifted Rehmeier’s Dinner in America and is, unsurprisingly, a boon to this film. Together, though, it’s instant chemistry. The two actors find a steady rhythm of quiet unease surfacing and then being suppressed by feverish energy that leads the audience to want these two crazy lovebirds to make their romance flourish. The temporary high that keeps both characters distanced from their fears and vulnerabilities provides Weaving and Gallner with a sandbox of nuance to play inside, and the two make their characters their own. Weaving gives one of her best performances, but is elevated by Gallner at her side.
The first half of Carolina Caroline is undeniably frictionless—much like the front half of Rehmeier’s Snack Shack—making the film feel like it might not find the heart in its doomed romance. Tom Dean’s screenplay highlights some of the ethical limitations of its protagonist, while also acknowledging that a relationship can prompt someone to reevaluate their moral boundaries if it means staying together for the long term. Oliver never pushes Caroline further than she wants. Still, the consequences of their actions can come crashing down in an instant and reveal Oliver’s willingness to plunge deeper into criminal behaviour if it means keeping their relationship alive. As the riskiness of their operations escalates, the bond between them also strengthens while revealing how far they’re willing to go. It’s an interesting push-and-pull that becomes significantly more pronounced once the back-half of Carolina Caroline becomes a high-wire act of tension within deep emotion.
Rehmeier has been honing his craft in this particular slice of Americana cinema for a while now, and all of his films tend to follow a familiar trajectory. The other shoe will drop, and when it does, Rehmeier handles it with a light touch. There’s a comfort in that, but Carolina Caroline might be his most accessible movie to date, thanks to its Bonnie and Clyde analogues and instant chemistry between Weaving and Gallner. Their criminal activities feel like two people genuinely pushing their own limits and discovering how far the relationship can go before it starts feeling constrained. The illusion of freedom that banditry can provide crumbles as decisions become increasingly binary and destructive. A film that manages to keep the pedal to the metal while slowly ensnaring its lovebirds in the chaos of both romance and crime, Carolina Caroline ratchets the tension without losing sight of the volatility of emotion at its core.
The 50th Toronto International Film Festival took place from September 4th to 14th. Carolina Caroline celebrated its World premiere on September 5th, as part of TIFF’s Centrepiece program. The full list of films selected for the festival can be found here.
