Gillipedia Official Rating: Well ain’t this just the sweetest lil thang, only ain’t isn’t a word
Score: 7/10
I think the best way to describe Where
the Crawdads Sing is refreshing. You have the backdrop of North Carolina
marshes filmed in Louisiana as the setting, the romantic love triangle plot elevated
by the supposed murder involving the characters, and the very impressive Daisy
Edgar-Jones playing a reserved, resourceful young woman. With themes of abuse
and bullying, there’s added dramatic heft. Not quite everything lands with a punch,
but with what has felt like oversaturation of mediocrity from 2022 films
unwilling to take chances, this movie does a good job standing on its own two
feet.
We start the film with the discovery
of Chase Andrews’ body. Taking place in the 50s, the police use small motorized
boats on the hunt for suspects. They come across Daisy’s character Kya who
attempts to flee in a panic. She’s caught, and as she’s thrown in jail, it’s
obvious already that the townsfolk want her head as chants of “Marsh Girl”
swirl around. David Straithairn approaches Kya’s cell and offers to represent
her. She remains quiet, shying away from the world around; Straithairn takes a
sympathetic cautious approach and says to think about his offer and he’ll
return later.
The next 25 minutes or so flashback
over a decade to Kya as a kid. In what feels overhanded at first, her father is
abusive and dominating. Her siblings and mother run away, and despite a
terrible situation, Kya sticks it out. The marsh is her home, and she learns
the key to surviving with her father is to stay out of the way. She befriends
the black local convenient store owners, but her father ensures her contact
with the outside world—including attending school—is limited to none. This
includes a nice kid named Tate who goes fishing by himself in the marshes.
Kya’s father soon disappears as well,
and she’s then truly on her own. We primarily return back to adult Kya as she scrapes
by a living. This is where Tate comes back into play. Having a history of people
leaving her behind, Kya is understandably hesitant to grow attached to Tate.
Continuing with this history and the themes of abuse, I’ll stop talking about
the plot except to say that Chase Andrews comes into the fold as well; despite
his jock-like charms that seems worlds apart from Kya, he is intrigued by her
and she is able to find some solace in him as well.
How the love triangle unfolds is the
most by-the-books aspect of the film, but even this is redeemed with that
lingering thought of what must have led up to the demise of Chase Andrews and
how Kya is involved. And in that regard, we’re really only given a couple of
options of what could’ve happened. There’s a lot of moving pieces to this film,
but I still think there could’ve been more red herrings. But I will say I am
really satisfied with how the case is resolved and the truth of what happened.
Daisy Edgar-Jones is a great British
actor, and so far I’ve seen her as a modern American woman in Fresh and
now a real Southern gal in this. She looks just like a young Anne Hathaway, and
continuing down the line, the actress that plays young Kya reminds me of a
younger Abigail Breslin. The auditions for her love interests must’ve had the
requirement of super strong chins because oh boy are they sharp. I think the
directing is pretty basic and has some awkward delivery of lines with the kid
actors, but I do appreciate how they shot the film at real locations. The Louisiana
bayous provide some great shots, and having lived in North Carolina in 2021, it
was fun to hear some shoutouts to cities there.
The end credits are worth watching for
the Taylor Swift song. I’m not like her biggest fan, but that song slaps—give her
an Oscar nom. I haven’t read the book, but I’m guessing some lines were taken
straight from the pages and translated really well to the screen. Some elements
of the love triangle are simplistic and the themes can be just a bit
heavy-handed, but all in all, I think I was missing a bit of Southern culture
being up here in Wisconsin; this was one of my favorite movies of 2022 and
easily receives my recommendation for anyone looking for a romantic movie.
No comments:
Post a Comment