Corina Review: Flawed Story About Flawed Stories

Naian González Norvind shines in Corina, a lovably quirky yet if technically imperfect film about taking the chances life gives us.

That strong performance is Naian González Norvind’s. Playing the titular role, Norvind captures the nervousness of her character in a way that feels genuine while also leaning into the film’s idiosyncratic tone. Her character feels trapped in the four streets of her Americana neighborhood, and Norvind channels that trapped feeling. She uses effective facial acting to convey both awkwardness and sympathy, while making everyday activities seem like unconquerable challenges. Hopfner’s camera technique also amplifies Cornia’s tension with her environment, filming mundane things like sets of stairs in an almost intimidating fashion. In a film that is all about overcoming one’s fear and taking risks, both Norvind’s performance and the environment in which she finds herself adds to the movie’s core theme.

While Hopfner clearly possesses a creative eye and adds a personal touch to the film, one can also see other influences in her work. The color palette and symmetry of certain shots will quickly remind audiences of the work of Wes Anderson. When Corina walks through her four familiar streets while chaos erupts behind her, it’s eerily similar to a favorite Beau is Afraid scene in which Beau attempts to cross the street. One could see this as paying homage to great filmmakers, or the movie relying a little too heavily on those filmmakers. I lean more towards the latter, simply because so much of the rest of the film feels so original that these moments feel slightly out of place. Still, if Hofpner is directly relying on the style of other filmmakers, there are worse ones from which to choose.

The narration holds the film’s progress back and is easily its weakest link. Narration can be an effective tool, but Corina commits the sin of over-narration, explaining things to the audience they could easily understand from what is taking place visually. Explaining how Corina feels in a given moment, for example, limits the impact of Norvind’s performance. This narration becomes less of an issue as the story progresses, but it’s still wildly distracting, especially during the film’s more interesting moments.

The film ends on a beautiful note, with Corina looking out over the city, where new opportunities abound. In the same way, the future for Hopfner is quite optimistic. Despite the growing pains of a debut feature, Corina is just fun and quirky enough to entertain and provoke empathy in its viewers. It goes through lulls (especially when Norvind is absent or relevated to the background), but there is no donut that Hopfner is an emerging voice in the quirky comedy genre. “Everybody likes good stories.” Corina’s caretaker (Carolina Politi) says to her at one point in the story. Corina is not a perfect story, but it is an entertaining one, teaching us how to endure the “unhappy endings” in life. And in its attempt to contemplate the impact of fear, it mostly succeeds, even if the work done behind the camera sometimes feels afraid of taking its own risks.

Corina had its North American Premiere at SXSW on March 8, 2025, with more screenings scheduled on March 8-13. Read our SXSW reviews and our list of films to watch at SXSW 2025!