Review: Carolina Caroline

Image courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

We've seen the setup countless times - from "Bonnie & Clyde" and "Badlands" to numerous films in the late 1990s that followed the rise of Quentin Tarantino - in which a young man looking for trouble makes an impression on a young woman and leads her into a life of crime as the lovers go on the lam. 

In "Carolina Caroline," the sophomore feature from Adam Rehmeier, the young woman, Caroline (Samara Weaving), spots a slightly older grifter, Oliver (Kyle Gallner), trying to pull a fast one on the clerk at the small town Texas gas station where she stocks shelves. She figures out his con, calls him on it, and asks him to pay the clerk back.

But she's intrigued. She spots his car outside a bar in town and puts herself in his line of vision. They strike up a conversation and it's clear that they're both interested. She asks him why he does what he does, and he tells her it's not because of greed or anger - although he's certainly not pleased with a society in which people barely making it pay more in taxes than massive corporations - but rather that he usually sees the angle, and he doesn't feel guilty about ripping off companies to which his theft will hardly make a dent.

The pair quickly fall in love - perhaps a bit too quickly to be believable - and soon enough, Caroline has left behind her father (Jon Gries) to take to the open road with Oliver. He shows her the tricks of the trade, but they only yield so much. She suggests they start hitting banks and he goes along with it.

In many ways, "Carolina Caroline" follows the expected beats of the criminal lovers on the lam story, but it's often tense, beautifully shot, well acted, and engrossing. Caroline, who has always lived in her small town because it's what she knows, itches to get out and see the world, while Oliver, mistrustful of everyone due to his upbringing, has finally met someone he can possibly trust.

This is a fairly assured sophomore feature. Rehmeier's first picture, "Snack Shack," was an underrated and enjoyable coming-of-age comedy set in the early 1990s. His latest is, I believe, also set during that era - the U.S. currency, the lack of cell phones, and a scene in a video store were the tip-offs - is vastly different from his debut. 

While the film follows some familiar beats, it is intriguingly different from previous films with similar stories. For starters, the pair appear to be doing what they do because it's something they can take part in together as a couple. She is not groomed or coerced into a life of crime - she willfully chooses it - and while things eventually get violent, Oliver never acts in such a way toward her. We never get the sense that he poses a danger to her - at least not directly.

The film is playing in only one theater in the city where I saw it, which is surprising. This is a film that I believe would have mass appeal. It's exciting, stylish, and engrossing. It's sad that a solid indie that, frankly, visually has the look of a mainstream crime drama has such a limited platform, when the multiplexes are overflowing with the latest sequels, existing IP, and movies based on video games. Those who seek it out are likely not to be disappointed.