Where the Crawdads Sing (2022) Review
The first thing that caught my attention upon watching Where the Crawdads Sing is Polly Morgan’s stunning cinematography of the idyllic marshland of Barkley Cove, North Carolina. Barkley Cove may have been a fictional town but the filming wasn’t shot with a green screen.
Instead, director Olivia Newman and Morgan went as far as shooting the movie in a real marsh in Fontainebleau State Park in Mandeville and Fairview-Riverside State Park in Madisonville. The on-location shoot certainly brings out the best in the picturesque beauty of the marshland. It even feels like a character itself, all figuratively alive and breathing. And somehow as the constant shots of marshland linger throughout the movie, there’s a distinctive sense of composure and tranquillity as it unfolds on the big screen.
Then, there’s Daisy Edgar-Jones. The up-and-coming actress, whose past credits involved primarily TV works such as Normal People, War of the Worlds and this year’s Under the Banner of Heaven. Never mind the fact that she looks curiously spotless for a poor girl who lives like a recluse in a shack all by herself in a marsh. She has that photogenic look that it’s hard to take your eyes off her while her overall performance is well, spellbinding.
But the thing is, she deserves better than the tepid material that she has to work with. Sure, Where the Crawdads Sing, which is based on Delia Owens’ debut novel of the same name happens to be a huge bestseller when it was first published in 2018. And to date, the book has sold more than 12 million copies! Even the movie itself, which was already released in the US back in July as well as in some countries in the subsequent months has since made — at the time of writing — a better-than-expected US$126.9 million against a US$24 million budget.
This is especially true, given the movie’s mostly poor critical responses. And frankly, I can see why here. From what I read, Oscar-nominated screenwriter Lucy Alibar of 2012’s Beasts of the Southern Wild fame is mostly faithful to the source material, which I figured among the crucial reasons that pleased many fans of the novel. I didn’t read the novel so I won’t be making the comparison here other than judging the movie solely on its own merits.
The story actually opens promisingly with the aftermath of a murder. The death of a local young man, to be exact, where Sheriff Jackson (Bill Kelly) and Deputy Perdue (Jayson Warner Smith) found Chase Andrews (Harris Dickinson) lying dead at the bottom of a fire tower. It doesn’t take long before they — as well as most of the townsfolk — suspect Kya Clark (Edgar-Jones) is the murderer. Besides, they never like Kya since they treat her like an outsider and even dubbed her the “Marsh Girl”.
Kya ends up arrested and charged with first-degree murder, especially after a piece of crucial evidence is found in her shack. Then comes a supposedly retired local lawyer named Tom Milton (David Strathairn), who decided to take the case and defends her in the courtroom trial.
From there, multiple flashbacks take place back and forth, highlighting Kya as a child (Jojo Regina, giving an impressive breakout performance), where we learn she used to live with a family. But his alcoholic dad’s (Garret Dillahunt in a solid supporting turn) constantly abusive behaviour has triggered each of his family members — including his estranged wife (Ahna O’Reilly) and some of his children — to abandon home. Except for Kya, who chooses to stay with her dad until she is eventually on her own.
After she grows up as a young adult (now played by Edgar-Jones), she never wants to leave the marsh. She falls in love with her childhood friend, Tate (Taylor John Smith), who is responsible for teaching her to read and write. We also learn that many years later, she falls for another one, who turns out to be Chase Andrews.
In what could have been an intriguing small-town murder mystery that mixes with a courtroom drama, it all feels more like an afterthought. Where the Crawdads Sing tries to layer the story with a mawkish YA-style romance straight out of Nicholas Sparks’ narrative playbook and a statement piece about female empowerment.
Too bad everything here is reduced to surface-level storytelling that drags on and on. The 126-minute running time sure feels punishing to a breaking point that I’m constantly asking myself when is the movie going to stop going the whole nine yards and get to the point already. It’s not that I’m against a slow-burn movie that takes its time to reveal everything. But the languid pacing and sluggish narrative are seriously in need of a tighter edit.
As if it wasn’t bad enough, Where the Crawdads Sing ends with an underwhelming trial scene and a total cop-out twist that leaves me all frustrated when the end credits start rolling. Taylor Swift’s minimalistic, yet haunting main track “Carolina” may have been a lifesaver here during the end credits and so do some of the positive points that I mentioned earlier. But they weren’t enough to overcome most of the movie’s shortcomings.
