DIRECTOR: Lila Neugebauer
CAST: Jennifer Lawrence, Brian Tyree Henry, Linda Emond, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Russell Harvard, Jayne Houdyshell
RUNNING TIME: 92 mins
CERTIFICATE: 15
BASICALLY…: A US soldier (Lawrence) with a brain injury struggles to adjust to life back home…
NOW FOR THE REVIEW…
Newly emboldened by CODA winning Best Picture, Apple is going out of its way to be seen as the “prestigious” streaming service, acquiring future projects by the likes of Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott and Steve McQueen, all with the hopes of repeating their Oscars success in the future. While their prospects for this year’s award season seem less certain (that is, unless next month’s Emancipation becomes a surprise contender, so long as people are willing to forgive its star for their actions at the last ceremony), that hasn’t stopped Apple from putting out Causeway, a movie that seems on the surface to have been designed purely to win over Oscar voters – heavy subject matter? Check. Emotional weight? Check. Jennifer Lawrence? Double check – but isn’t quite as cynical as it seems. In fact, it’s a pretty decent, and certainly well-acted, drama that’s noble in spirit and just about sticks the landing, minus a few hinderances here and there.
Lawrence – also a producer on the film – portrays Lynsey, a US soldier who is recovering from a brain injury she sustained whilst serving in Afghanistan. After a brief rehabilitation period, she goes back to her family home in New Orleans to rest up, living with her estranged mother (Linda Emond) and getting a local job as a pool cleaner, but she has no intention of staying there and is already making plans to be redeployed at the first opportunity. Lynsey soon crosses paths with James (Brian Tyree Henry), a mechanic who carries his own share of heartbreak, and the two start to form a sincere bond as they attempt to work through their collective trauma together.
It’s a simple enough film, one that knows exactly what it is and does a fine enough job of being just that, with the added benefit of being carried by two incredibly understated, unshowy, and above all nuanced performances by Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry. Both are excellent here, with more than enough believable chemistry for the viewer to buy why these two incredibly broken people would want to hang out with each other, let alone be comfortable to share some of their most tragic secrets with one another. Director Lila Neugebauer, best known for her work in theatre, spends much of her debut feature putting her stage background to good use, as she gets her two leads to venture toward some dark places with their characters in what is largely a two-hander between them, but the first-time filmmaker avoids easy theatrical limitations by leaning into their quieter, arguably more cinematic moments which don’t require a lot of vocal projecting.
The performances are so good that they often overshadow some of the more standard qualities that Causeway otherwise exhibits. The script, credited to Ottessa Moshfegh, Luke Goebel and Elizabeth Sanders, is very understated, sometimes to its detriment as you feel as though certain scenes could use a stronger touch of drama to weigh it down, or a firmer emphasis on some of the very traumatic and downright devastating episodes that these characters are still dealing with. Less is more, as the old saying goes, but there is such a thing as having too little of something, as the light approach leaves more to be desired when it comes to character growth or even plot development. Some supporting characters, like Stephen McKinley Henderson as a doctor that Lawrence’s Lynsey regularly visits, often disappear for long stretches of the film, and then later come back making decisions that require very little conflict or debate. While it’s admirable that the film comes in at a brisk 92 minutes, it’s hard not to imagine that certain things would have been better fleshed out if another ten or so minutes were added to that runtime.
However, the film works more often than it doesn’t, and it is heartfelt and sincere in its writing and especially its performances to function as a decent enough drama where its subtlety and understatement is both a virtue and a flaw. Don’t expect it to be Apple’s big awards contender for the year, though; unlike CODA, which was a crowd-pleaser through and through, Causeway is the kind of film you watch to see two great actors continue to be great, even in material that’s not always up to their standard. In that sense, you certainly get what you expect, but it’s not like the film surrounding them is entirely disposable without them; there are some poignant scenes that explore the psychological distress of these characters, and while the understated nature of the script doesn’t always allow for them to be explored as fully as they ought to be, it’s respectful and not too cynical about portraying them like this.
If you’re looking for a solid movie where Jennifer Lawrence is sad throughout most of it, this is a much more uplifting choice than Don’t Look Up.
SO, TO SUM UP…
Causeway is a mostly solid drama that relies solely on the excellent lead performances of Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry to carry its heavy themes and psychological subject matter, which isn’t always explored to its fullest potential due to a script that is often understated to a fault.
