Causeway
Directed By: Lila Neugebauer
Causeway is a 2022 debut film by Lila Neugebauer staring Jennifer Lawrence (Lynsey) and Bryan Tyree Henry (James). It is streaming on Apple TV+. It comes from the darling film-bro studio A24. It’s rare that a studio would actually contribute towards a film watching decision. However, with A24 it’s definitely a factor.
I was keyed into this film due to the Best Supporting Actor nomination that Bryan Tyree Henry received last year. He’s been around awhile, but embarrassingly I only became familiar with him due to Bullet Train. He had a level of charm and presence in that film that made me take notice. From there, he was put on my personal “keep an eye on” list.
The film is centered on Jennifer Lawrence’s character Lynsey. When we first see her she cannot walk, she cannot use her hands, and she can barely speak. She served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Afghanistan and suffered a brain injury when her patrol was struck by an IED.
Once well enough to be on her own she has no choice but to return home to live with her mother in New Orleans. They live in a small house and her mother is barely scrapping by. She appears to be an alcoholic and a flake.
Lynsey gets a job cleaning pools because she likes the water. On her first day her mother’s truck breaks down. She has a mild panic attack, but manages to get it to a local repair shop. It is here that she meets the gregarious owner James (Bryan Tyree Henry). He offers her a ride home and they begin to form an unlikely friendship.
Jennifer Lawrence was almost unrecognizable in this performance. She was subdued and un-beautified, stripped down to almost nothing. Simple hair, no makeup, and bad clothes helped transformed her. She pulls it off and sheds her movie star persona. She is able to convey so much through a blank stare or a slight smile. Her hang-dog almost gangly movements are in-tune with someone recently wounded and unsure of themselves.
Equal, if not better is Bryan Tyree Henry. His performance is imbued with with such a devastating naturalism. He has a stillness, filled with pauses and those idiosyncratic awkward movements of the hands and head. Behind that stillness seems to lie a depth of being that is difficult to communicate, but easy to see.
The climatic scene takes place a night in a pool. They each open up to each other to the point of vulnerability. The bluish glow of the water reflects off their faces and contrasts with the surrounding darkness, highlighting and emphasizing the intimacy of the moment.
In the aftermath we see a series of empty pools. They are beautiful and still almost as if indicating what’s hidden below the water. This echos the trauma and sadness deep below Lynsey’s calm and impenetrable exterior. The next pool is not empty and we see Lynsey alone by the water. She strips down and dives into the cool blue, ready to face what lies below, in her own heart.
The real reason this film works on any level is how the stripped down filmmaking balances out the incredible melodrama that unfolds through dialogue and script. The naturalized performances, bereft of bombast and affectation, transcend the saccharine trauma drama. The film doesn't try to solve things for the characters, it leaves them to work out their issues. As with all things, in the end, all that it wanted is a bit of human connection.
It would just be nice to have someone around, have coffee together in the morning, you know, smoke in the evening, cook together sometimes.
Musical Pairing: Stairs to the Attic, The Antlers