2025 Middleburg Film Festival Days 1 and 2: ‘After the Hunt,’ ‘It Was Just an Accident,’ ‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,’ ‘Train Dreams’
Nestled in the rolling hills of Virginia’s Loudoun County, the Middleburg Film Festival feels like a not-so-secret handshake among cinephiles from the South Atlantic states. Each year, it’s easy to meet and speak to folks from all walks of life. Maryland day-trippers, North Carolinians on a fall getaway, West Virginians chasing the open road, and D.C. locals ditching the Beltway chaos and bustling of tourists. Just under an hour’s drive from our Nation’s capital, but it might as well be located on another planet, film lovers are pulled to this sleepy Virginian town every October for advanced screenings, smart chats on film in quaint venues, and those killer concert celebrations. Now in its thirteenth year, the Middleburg Film Festival has climbed into that sweet spot where big-name buzz meets small-town ease, my own Telluride-East, as I affectionately call it. The kind of spot that has you mulling over plot twists with a glass of a locally crafted Cab Franc long after the lights come up. This is my fourth go around, and I have to say: not many film festivals bring together the magic of community quite like Middleburg.
For me, it’s less about the Oscar-buzz hype or the director Q&As where they unpack their flicks, and more about the easy flow. A lunch-hour screening sliding right into an afternoon talk on what makes a story stick. That crisp fall air hitting you, mixed with the crunch of leaves underfoot and the faint clip-clop of horses down the lane. The town itself sneaks into the mix like a strong supporting performance, those fieldstone walls from well before the American Revolution lining the main drag, weathered shops glowing in the late sun. After a few trips here, I’ve figured out the good festivals don’t just screen films; they pull those quiet threads from our own messy lives into conversations that bridge the gaps between us, one shared laugh at a time.
The four-day festival opened with Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt, a taut psychological drama starring Julia Roberts as Alma, a university instructor entangled in her colleague Hank’s (Andrew Garfield) alleged misconduct, accused by one of her brightest students, Maggie (Eyo Edibiri). I found myself completely drawn into the film through the eyes of Roberts’ character, her quiet restraint, her uncertainty, her private pains (physically, mentally, and emotionally). Both Hank and Maggie struck me as terrifically unlikable characters, which felt intentional and worked really well at keeping a divisive angle. The story’s ambiguous, he-said-she-said structure offered a refreshing, layered take on a familiar narrative. Like Eddington, I appreciated that the film refused to take a definitive side, instead holding up a mirror to the flawed, conflicting nature of humanity itself.
Julia Roberts delivers her best performance since Erin Brockovich, subtle, raw, and devastatingly real. It’s one of my favorite performances of the year. It feels like it’s been a long time since we’ve seen Roberts in such a strong and intelligent role, and she had me completely reeled in from start to finish.
After the Hunt’s insanely low critical score (39% on Rotten Tomatoes) feels completely undeserved; too many critics seem to crave tidy resolutions that affirm their own biases. That mindset has plagued social media for years, and that’s precisely what this film rejects. Everyone wants answers that fit their worldview, and that kind of thinking only deepens echo chambers and stifles meaningful dialogue. As the tagline reminds us, not everything is supposed to make you comfortable. Nor should it be. Some stories are meant to unsettle, to challenge, and to linger: open-ended and unapologetically human. And that’s the kind of truth-telling I’d love to see more of in movies. [B+]
The Opening Night film was Noah Baumbach’s outstanding film, Jay Kelly, starring George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, and Billy Crudup. I was at hand for the North American premiere in Telluride. Read my thoughts here, or Ryan’s full review here. Casting directors Douglas Aibel and Nina Gold were on hand to receive the Ensemble and Casting Award following the screening.
Day two offered an embarrassment of riches, with a lineup that ranged from major studio showcases to daring international cinema. Before diving into my picks, I attended the Creative Collaborators panel, where director Jon M. Chu, cinematographer Alice Brooks, and editor Myron Kerstein received this year’s annual prize for their work together on Wicked: For Good. The award was presented by Variety, with the ever-gracious Jazz Tangcay moderating the conversation.
The session opened with a clip from the first Wicked’s climactic “Defying Gravity” sequence, setting an uplifting tone. Chu, Brooks, and Kerstein discussed their long creative partnership. Chu and Brooks met at USC film school, where they dreamed of making a musical together. Kerstein joined Chu on Crazy Rich Asians, and has now collaborated on six films with the director.
Chu explained how he wanted to expand the story in Wicked: For Good and why they chose to shoot both parts at once. He described the first film as a fairytale: bright, effervescent, and full of dreams. The second film, he said, explores adulthood, disillusionment, and consequence.
“Part one was this fairytale,” Chu said. “It grows up in the way that I grew up: living the American dream and believing in happily-ever-afters until it cracks at the very end. Then movie two is where you’re grown up, and you get to look back at those stories. They’re shattered in front of you. How do you rebuild? Should you? Are you living in a cynical world, or can you still hold onto the hope you had when you were young, just built differently? Movie two was always the reason to make Wicked. It’s where the meat is, the consequences of choices. Choices are easy; living with them is hard. That loneliness, that self-doubt. From Galinda’s point of view, it’s about realizing you weren’t ready to make the right choice at first. Can you have the courage to pop your own bubble of privilege when you see injustices?”
The session concluded with a behind-the-scenes look at Wicked: For Good, which hits theaters November 21.
After the conversation, I attended Jafar Panahi’s Palme d’Or winner It Was Just an Accident. The film marks the Iranian director’s first since his 2022 arrest and tells the story of Vahid (Vahid Mabasseri), a modest mechanic who has a chance encounter with a man he believes was once his sadistic prison guard. Uncertain, he gathers a group of former prisoners to see if they recognize the same man. One bad decision compounds upon another, and the film veers briefly into screwball comedy before settling back into a dark, gripping thriller. It Was Just an Accident is a sharp and engrossing tale of vengeance and defiance against an oppressive regime. It is not only a bold and original work but also a deeply personal one.
Panahi was on hand to accept the festival’s Impact Award following a post-screening Q&A. France has selected Accident as its official submission for the Oscar’s Best International Feature. [B+]
Next up was Mary Bronstein’s If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, starring the astonishing Rose Byrne. The pair introduced the film and joined a Q&A afterward, where Byrne accepted the Agnes Varda Trailblazing Film Artist Award for her fearless portrayal of a mother on the edge of a breakdown. If I Had Legs is one of the most unsettling and uncomfortable films I’ve ever sat through, which is exactly what it intends to be. While that approach resonated with many (read Martin Tsai’s Sundance review here), it was sensory overload for me. Several attendees left early, so it is safe to say this challenging film will not be for everyone, despite Byrne’s tremendous work. [C+]
The final film of day two was the high point of the festival so far. Clint Bentley’s Train Dreams stars Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, William H. Macy, Clifton Collins Jr., and Kerry Condon. It tells the simple yet poignant story of Robert Grainier (Edgerton), who helped build the nation’s railroads in early-20th-century Pacific Northwest America. There is beauty in its simplicity, a quiet and meditative portrait of a man pondering his place in the natural world.
Bentley’s direction is patient, allowing Grainier’s story to unfold deliberately and naturally. In lesser hands, a story this sparse might have felt aimless, but Bentley’s adaptation of Denis Johnson’s novella is saturated in beauty, thanks in large part to Adolpho Veloso’s brilliant cinematography. Train Dreams might be the most beautifully shot film of 2025. Edgerton’s performance is mesmerizing. His tough exterior hides a tender core, mirroring the story’s gentle take on the hard life of a railroad worker told in such a quiet and graceful way. Train Dreams is full of wonder and one of the best films I have seen this year. [A-]
Tomorrow promises the busiest day at the festival, with screenings of The Secret Agent, A House of Dynamite, and No Other Choice, along with a few of my favorite annual venues that Middleburg offers, including Talk Back to the Critics, Cocktails & Contenders, and this year’s Concert Celebration honoring Kris Bowers.
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