Movie Review: Causeway is a Quietly Moving Drama

Causeway (2022)

Directed by Lila Neugebauer

Written by Elzabeth Sanders, Luke Goebel, Ottessa Moshfegh

Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Bryan Tyree Henry, Linda Emond

Release Date November 4th, 2022

Published October 29th, 2022

Apple TV

12 minutes 49 seconds into Causeway...

What have we learned? Jennifer Lawrence is a former soldier named Lynsey who is dealing with PTSD. Having been shipped home to recover she'd entered a halfway house facility and was cared for by Sharon (Jayne Houdyshell), a nurse. We don't yet know exactly what the nature of Lynsey's injuries are. We don't see any physical scars. We see her unable to walk at first. We see Sharon having to help her do tasks such as use the bathroom. We see her going through physical therapy and learning to walk again.

And, before she leaves Sharon's care, Lynsey is running again and has recovered her physical capacity to the point where she thinks she's ready to redeploy. Sharon tells her to slow down. At the point where we have stopped, Lynsey is leaving rehab with Sharon and will be returning to her hometown. She claims that her mother will be picking her up at the bus station and that her brother may or may not be around as well.

In terms of the filmmaking, director Lila Neugebauer favors dark, naturalistic interiors. The darkness of the cinematography is a visual companion to the darkness of Lynsey's mental state. Thus, when seen jogging and driving a car, and seeming happy, the lighting of the scenes is brighter, sun peeking through clouds, if you don't mind the metaphor. On the bus however, as Lynsey is riding home, we are back in the dark interior. Rain on the bus window, no lights on inside the bus, deep black shadows surrounding Lynsey as she takes a pill and darkness dominates the scene despite the fact that she's seated next to a window.

Is 12 minutes 49 second long enough to be considered an opening act or do we have to wait a little longer to make that determination? These 12 minutes and 49 seconds are important to establishing who Lynsey is and what she's struggling with but are they merely exposition? They do seem to lack energy, though I can't imagine how one might get energy into such scenes. I'm curious but not wholly satisfied with the start of Causeway.

Lethargy is part of Causeway but I don't mean that as a negative. Indeed, the tone matches the setting, a hot New Orleans summer. Lynsey gets a job as a pool cleaner and the hard work and sweat, paired with how generally tired Lynsey's brain injury has left her, the lethargy makes sense, it's part of the story. It also creates a tone of struggle and catharsis that presents physically while building to the emotional catharsis.

Oh yeah, we eventually learn that Lynsey suffered a traumatic brain injury. It left her comatose for a time and required her to undergo physical therapy while her emotional state is dealt with via various medications. Medications and eventually, a new friend who she comes to confide in and rely on while she suffers on an off and struggles with her fraught relationship with her mother, Gloria (Linda Emond). There is also her brother but you will have to learn about him by seeing the movie.

At the 20-minute mark of Causeway we meet the other half of this story. James (Bryan Tyree Henry) is a mechanic who works on Lynsey's incredibly old truck. He gives her a ride home and the two spark over a shared love of old music. The two keep hanging out and you might be wondering if this is going to be an unconventional romance. I won't say either way, you should see Causeway for yourself to find out. The relationship between Lawrence and Henry is the heart of Causeway as each is dealing with trauma, overcoming trauma, and trying to be adults making new friends, a challenge not often explored in movies.

Bryan Tyree Henry and Jennifer Lawrence build a strong chemistry. Tentative, awkward, sweet and strained, the relationship has a relatable authenticity that grounds the middle portion of Causeway. It also sets up the final act wherein our friends will be separated and have to find their way back to each other, if they can. Each seems to want something that is at odds with the other and that gives a dramatic kick in the pants to the movie in the final 15 minutes.

Causeway is a bit of a chamber piece, it's never more than two characters on screen at once and each scene is fraught with tension, be it the awkward tension of strangers, the historic tensions of family, or the stubborn tension of people at odds. Each scene is a small movement in a larger symphony of human emotions that begin discordant before settling into something familiar and begin a path to something comforting and some version of normal. I admire the modest ambition of just having human beings talking and letting their personalities create the drama of the moment. It's nothing that hasn't been done before, I just admire it being done so well here.

Causeway debuts on Apple TV on November 4th, 2022. Find my archive of more than 20 years and neatly 2000 movie reviews at Seanatthemovies.blogspot.com. Follow me on Twitter at PodcastSean. Follow the archive blog on Twitter at SeanattheMovies. If you've enjoyed what you have read, consider subscribing to my work here on Vocal. If you really want to support my writing you can make a monthly pledge or a leave a onetime tip. Thanks!