CAUSEWAY – A Review by Cynthia Flores
This film is director Lila Neugebauer’s feature film debut. She has shown her talents on episodes of The Sex Lives of College Girls, Maid, and Room 104. With Causeway, she has a chance to tell a longer story. She picked the complicated and often messy issue of PTSD and loss but dealt with it gently and quietly.
We first meet Lynsey (Jennifer Lawrence), a US soldier sitting in a wheelchair like a china doll that might break at any moment. She is dealing with her recovery after a traumatic injury she sustained while deployed in Afghanistan. We see her slow recovery and therapy in a halfway house with a kind nurse named Sharon (Jayne Houdyshell). As she prepares to be released, she lets Sharon know her plans to be redeployed. Once home, Lynsey struggles to adjust back in New Orleans to her mother’s house. While dealing with the frustrating process of living with PTSD and the lingering side effects of her brain injuries, she meets a local mechanic, James (Brian Tyree Henry). Unfortunately, he also has a kind of PTSD that has bogged him down into sorrow. Nevertheless, the pair begin to forge an unexpected bond based on their heartaches.
Causeway will show in a few theaters nationwide to qualify for the coming awards season. It deserves consideration, especially for its leads. Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry. They have great chemistry, and their friendship is believable and moving.
I give Causeway 4-stars. It’s a slow-paced film about pain and regret that leaves you hopeful. It’s another good movie from the people at Apple TV+.
Directed by: Lila Neugebauer
Written by: Ottessa Moshfegh, Luke Goebel, Elizabeth Sanders
Rated: R
Selig Rating: 4 Stars
Running Time: 1h 32min
Drama
Release: In limited theatrical release and exclusively on Apple TV+ November 4th
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Brian Tyree Henry, Linda Emond
The Selig Rating Scale:
5 Stars – Excellent movie, well worth the price.
4 Stars – Good movie
3 Stars – OK movie
2 Stars – No need to rush. Save it for a rainy day.
1 Star – Good that I saw it on the big screen but wish I hadn’t paid for it.
