I am not going to pretend that I didn’t enjoy Where The Crawdads Sing. I did. While it was on, I thought the acting was fine and the storyline was engrossing enough to keep me actively engaged from start to finish. The magic started to fade after the end credits rolled though, and I am now bemused by the fact that it managed to win me over for most of the 125-minute runtime. Let’s put it down to the fact that it was a pretty comfortable “date night” movie choice. If you are after that then you could do worse than this. Otherwise, you would probably do best to avoid it.
Daisy Edgar-Jones plays Kya Clark, a woman who lives alone in the marsh area of North Carolina. Flashbacks show us exactly how she ended up in this situation, and more flashbacks will show us how she ended up in trouble. Because Kya could be in a lot of trouble, all thanks to the discovered corpse of Chase Andrews (Harris Dickinson). Standing trial for murder, Kya is defended by a local lawyer (Tom Milton, played by David Strathairn) who has to convince the local town residents that their own prejudices should not be enough to find this young woman guilty. Is Kya a murderer though, or is she a victim of some horribly coincidental circumstantial evidence?
Based on a popular book by Delia Owens, this was adapted into screenplay form by Lucy Alibar (her third feature), and the non-chronological structure works well for painting the big picture and keeping viewers on their toes. Director Olivia Newman presents everything well enough, it all looks picturesque and pretty, even while the setting isn’t really the prettiest place on the planet. This is only Newman’s second film, having amassed a body of work that includes a short or two and some episodic TV work, but the relative lack of experience behind the camera doesn’t seem to affect the final product, although I suspect both writer and director decided to stick closer to the source material than someone more confident in their own abilities (and this is just me speculating because, as you may have guessed, I haven’t read the book).
Edgar-Jones is good in the lead role. I haven’t seen her in too many movies so far, but I have liked what I HAVE seen. Strathairn is always worth your time, and he gives a typically enjoyable performance here. Dickinson gets to be a bit of a douchebag, which he does very well, but at least his character development is less ambiguous, and subsequently more enjoyable, than the other main man in Kya’s life, Tate (Taylor John Smith). Smith is a typical bland, safe, option popping in and out of the film, but some of his words and actions are enough to have you hoping that Kya realises she can just stay happy in her own company until meeting someone genuinely deserving of her affection. Garrett Dillahunt has a few scenes, and is excellent, as a resentful and violent “Pa”. Michael Hyatt and Sterling Macer Jr. are the last two people to mention, giving very enjoyable supporting turns as a married couple/shopkeepers who do their best to help and protect a young girl (oh, I should show some appreciation for Jojo Regina, playing young Kya) they realise is fending for herself.
This is escapist fare, and some of it works well enough, but it’s all very superficial, from the legal proceedings to the cherry depiction of a life of poverty that equates to a carefree young girls walking barefoot around some marshes. Nothing is as grubby and painful as it should be, and the twists and turns feel redundant when you start to figure out the foregone conclusion of the finale. It’s okay though, absolutely okay, although I doubt anyone would want to rush to rewatch it.
5/10
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