Sadly, it’s a rarity these days: a filmmaker who trusts their audience to have the attention span to follow the story unfolding on the screen. Filmmaker Rachel Lambert has long excelled at just this, from her fractured family drama “In the Radiant City” to her delightfully off-kilter character study “Sometimes I Think About Dying.” Mostly, Lambert trusts her actors to breathe life into stories that may scan small on the page, but reach profound heights on the big screen.
Her latest film, the lovely romance “Carousel,” is perhaps the best example yet of these tendencies and talents, a film for and about grownups bolstered by strong performances from stars Chris Pine (in a role that, we hope, will define the next chapter of his career) and a wonderfully delicate Jenny Slate. Filmed in Lambert’s own Ohio hometown, the film revels in the seeming minutiae of everyday life, but finds pleasure and profundity in such spaces.
When we first meet Noah — a local doctor who loves his handed-down practice — his gentle nature is barely masking some big pain. Lambert’s script doles out details in small measures, requiring patience from her audience. It is, however, immediately clear that Noah’s seemingly recent divorce has taken a major toll on both him and his teen daughter Maya (“Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” breakout Abby Ryder Fortson), who displays major anxiety about the smallest of matters.
There are big matters afoot, too, like the news that Noah’s mentor (Sam Waterston) is retiring from their practice. And there’s the reappearance of Rebecca (Slate), who we later come to understand was Noah’s high school sweetheart, and one he has been unable to shake in the intervening years. Rebecca is back in town to deal with her own problems, including a stuck career in politics and her aging parents’ inability to move forward with selling their house. We see what’s brought Rebecca here through a natty bit of perspective shift, a trick that Lambert employs sparsely throughout the film, and one that can occasionally catch audiences off-guard, eager to fill in the pieces.
But Lambert will fill in the pieces, often through the force of Pine’s performance in particular. When he and Rebecca reunite — the pair exhibit an immediate chemistry that feels both physical and emotional, conveying a believably complicated history — no one is under any illusions that everything is suddenly perfect. This is, after all, a story about adults, people who look and talk like real people, imperfect actions, stilted sentences, so much unsaid. Communication, it seems, has always been a problem between the two, and when we get a taste of what tore them apart in the first place, we can already see what might happen this time.
Or will it? That’s the central question of “Carousel,” which finds Lambert gently eschewing standard romance beats — they fall in love, express it, and live happily ever after! — in favor of a story that is compelled by viewing the cost of real love through a decidedly mature lens. Both Noah and Rebecca are dealing with real problems, true-life stuff, the kind of things coming at all of us. Noah’s divorce has wounded him, a lingering tragedy involving his father still cannot be spoken of, Rebecca is realizing her career is not everything. Local stores are closing up on Main Street. Maya can’t put into words what she’s feeling. There are so many jokes about the cost of healthcare.
What happens to love in the face of all of that? Anchored by a heart-stopping argument that sees Noah and Rebecca laying bare every fault, flaw, and falsity that has kept them from fully embracing each other (and maybe even life itself), “Carousel” feels ripped from the fabric of a million lives. Don’t let the seemingly small nature of the film fool you; there is career-best work here, especially from Pine, who was always made for a romantic drama. This one was worth the wait.
Grade: B+
“Carousel” premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. It is currently seeking distribution.
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