TIFF 2025: Our Review of ‘Carolina Caroline’

Posted in Festival Coverage, TIFF 2025 by - September 07, 2025
TIFF 2025: Our Review of ‘Carolina Caroline’

From the second Oliver (Kyle Gallner) walks into the gas station convenience store in a sleepy Texas town, he catches the eye of Caroline (Samara Weaving). Caroline then proceeds to watch Oliver pull the old change swap con on her boss behind the register, chasing Oliver out of the store to demand the money back. The fact that she picked up on his con so quickly immediately fascinates Oliver and the pair soon start a whirlwind romance across the southern US, escalating crimes up to bank robbery along the way.

I know what you’re thinking, great another Bonnie and Clyde inspired road trip crime spree film, and yes you would be right. But there are a couple of things here at play that elevate Carolina Caroline from being just a retread. The first of which is Samara Weaving. As much as this is a duo streaking across the country, and the chemistry between Gallner and Weaving is clearly evident, its really Samara’s film, as evidenced by the flash forward film opening sequence of her leaving a motel. Director Adam Carter Rehmeier is telling us right up front, its her film.

Things start to spiral and go horribly wrong after a ill-conceived visit to Caroline’s birth mother who abandoned her at birth, a searingly brutal and devastating performance from Kyra Sedgwick. But its the look of pained anguish on Weaving’s face and the crash out that follows that wrenches the scene away, despite all of Sedwick’s ferocity.

 

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"Kirk Haviland is an entertainment industry veteran of over 20 years- starting very young in the exhibition/retail sector before moving into criticism, writing with many websites through the years and ultimately into festival work dealing in programming/presenting and acquisitions. He works tirelessly in the world of Canadian Independent Genre Film - but is also a keen viewer of cinema from all corners of the globe (with a big soft spot for Asian cinema!)
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