My Grade: B+, stream it on AppleTV+
Plot: A U.S. soldier (Jennifer Lawrence) suffers a traumatic brain injury while fighting in Afghanistan and struggles to adjust to life back home. -IMDB
Review: Coming home can take on so many meanings for an individual. In Causeway, a low-key and touching character study on trauma and the healing power of friendship, Jennifer Lawrence returns to the subtle and grounded style of acting that will remind audiences of her breakout Oscar-nominated performance in Winter’s Bone. Here, she is paired with Brian Tyree-Henry, who has garnered an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance.
When we meet Lynsey (Lawrence), she is coming home with all sorts of trepidations and is dealing with scars both physical and mental, from her time serving in Afghanistan. Her home resides in New Orleans, where we meet her mother Gloria (Linda Emond), who enjoys alcohol and doesn’t quite know how to connect with her distant daughter. An unlikely friendship is struck up with James (Brian Tyree Henry), who works at a local mechanic shop. The movie centers on their bond and connection through the wounds they carry.
Director Lila Neugebauer makes an impressive directorial debut and displays a sharp sense of the things that aren’t said in the empty spaces and bestows the movie with humor and aching emotions. She allows scenes to breathe and play out in their naturalism. She is aided by a screenplay written by Ottessa Moshfegh, Luke Goebel, and Elizabeth Sanders, which doesn’t succumb to easy sentiment in its honest depiction of PTSD.
The movie wouldn’t work as effectively as it does without Lawrence and Tyree-Henry's excellent and dynamic performances. Lawrence doesn’t display the grandiose emotions that were brought to her collaborations with David O. Russell. Here, she is playing someone who is withdrawn from the world and is slowly learning to open up again. Lawrence makes the audience feel every step of her recovery, both physically and emotionally, giving one of her best performances. Tyree-Henry provides a perfect foil with the warmth and charm he brings to his impressive performance. Under the surface though, he is carrying shame and heartbreak that bubbles to the surface in one of the most effectively impactful scenes in the movie, which takes place in a pool.
Though the movie can be subdued to a fault, one wishes more context were provided for some key backstory elements in the narrative, the quiet nature of the film ends up being beneficial in the long run. The story is deceptively simple in presentation, but emotionally complex in the relationships it portrays, thanks to an ace cast of actors.
Neugebauer utilizes the New Orleans setting in a beautifully atmospheric manner that becomes another character in the movie and feels authentic to the working-class environment depicted.
Despite some flaws in the script, the movie is deeply moving and surprisingly funny at times, thanks to Lawrence and Tyree-Henry's honest and compelling portrayals of two lost souls forming a genuine connection. I was struck by the ease of their friendship and how rarely we see interestingly complex friendships between men and women in movies. Living through uncertain times, the hope of their bond brings much reassurance.
See you at the movies!
Cristian