Sometimes, you shouldn't sleep on a movie.
This time of year, there is so much talk about the lead up to the Oscars that certain movies end up dominating the conversation at the expense of others that don't end up gaining traction with the industry.
My knowledge of Causeway was originally hearing about it under its original title Red, White, & Water. It seemed like one of those quiet low-budget indies that could end up becoming an Oscar contender...especially with Jennifer Lawrence attached to it.
COVID did delay its release and it eventually premiered on Apple TV+ just as last year's (ugh...) Best Picture winner Coda did.
Causeway did get good reviews, particularly for Brian Tyree Henry...but it did just seem to sort of slip away in terms of having a higher profile.
I just didn't really think of giving it a try, but then I kept hearing more and more about the work of Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry...only for the latter to get a last-minute surge from behind to get a Supporting Actor Oscar nomination.
A friend of mine ended up watching the film and his reaction to the film made me realize I should give it a try, especially due to its relatively brisk running time of just over 90 minutes.
Causeway is the film debut of Lila Neugebauer, who had made a name for herself in the theater world for directing such acclaimed productions as The Waverly Gallery and Mary Page Marlowe along with directing episodes of shows such as Maid and The Sex Lives of College Girls.
I wouldn't say this is a film that breaks any new ground in terms of its visuals or the styles/aesthetics, but Neugebauer managed to take a script by novelist Ottessa Moshfegh and Elizabeth Sanders & Luke Goebel and she created a truly nice dual character piece.
I don't think Causeway is necessarily a remarkable film, but somehow, Lawrence and Henry manage to make it something special.
Lawrence plays Lynsey, a soldier who is deployed from Afghanistan after receiving a traumatic brain energy. After a rehabilitation period, she returns home to New Orleans where she stays with her mother anxiously awaiting a chance for redeployment.
She ends up connecting with James Aucoin (Henry), a mechanic with whom she is sort of connected for having known his younger sister in school. The two hang out frequently and she discovers James is going through his own physical and emotional trauma as he ended up causing the death of his young nephew in a car crash on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway.
When I think of Jennifer Lawrence, I remember how she seemed to just wow everybody with her "wise beyond her years" performance in Winter's Bone. Then, she managed to just be thrust into superstardom when she became Katniss in The Hunger Games films and then, sadly, she got sucked into the orbit of David O. Russell which led to her playing characters who were probably too mature for her to play...and yet, she won an Oscar for one and got nominations for two others.
It also didn't help that she was a major figure in the orbit of an even more problematic figure: Harvey Weinstein.
With her turn in 2021's Don't Look Up, she managed to provide one of that film's better performances but her being a part of this quiet indie playing such an emotionally subdued role could not have come at a better time.
I almost feel like we should all sing a round of Hello, Dolly and change it to Jenny, because it was an absolute joy to see Jennifer Lawrence back to doing work like this. If it hadn't been such a strong year for women in film, I think we might've seen her get more traction in the Actress race...then again...Michelle Williams got nominated and I think Lawrence was far more compelling.
Brian Tyree Henry just came off a run as Paper Boi on the brilliant Atlanta, and what a way for him to get a nice boost into what should hopefully be a truly eclectic career that will take him down a path similar to his other Atlanta co-star Lakeith Stanfield.
Henry has such a lovable and charming and gruff presence that you can't help but just anxiously await every time he comes onscreen. His vulnerability and his authenticity levels are simply off the charts. It was such a real and lived in performance and I am glad that Academy voters were smart enough to vote for him even though they were apparently too busy to vote for Danielle Deadwyler....
..........that snub will take a while to recover from......
On another note, due to Neugebauer's theater background, it was nice to see a small ensemble of actors who are primarily stage performers like Linda Emond playing Lynsey's mother, Jayne Houdyshell playing Lynsey's nurse, Stephen McKinley Henderson as Lynsey's doctor, and Russell Harvard as her brother. While all of these are very small performances, they all do lovely work.
Causeway is a small movie, and it is a bit slow and plodding despite its 95-minute runtime, but it is truly a bittersweet delight to watch Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry come together with such a tender chemistry that felt very palpable.
Considering how I have been so disappointed with many movies this year, I am willing to give this one a bit of a boost thanks to how compelling the relationship arc was to watch.
RATING: ****1/2 out of *****
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