Plot: An intimate portrait of a soldier struggling to adjust to her life after returning home to New Orleans.
Review: As great of an actress as she has proven herself to be, Jennifer Lawrence has spent the last decade of her career in everything from big-budget superhero projects to marquee Oscar contenders. It is easy to forget her stunning early work in indie films like Winter’s Bone and The Burning Plain. Her latest film, Causeway, is one of Lawrence’s most subtle performances and more proof of why she has consistently been one of the most acclaimed actors working today. A powerful look at trauma, both emotional and physical, Causeway is exactly the type of film that wins awards and proves how the right director, writers, and actors can be to elevate a script to one of the best films of the year.
Causeway opens and closes on a shot of Lynsey, played by Jennifer Lawrence. A soldier who suffered a traumatic brain injury while deployed in Afghanistan, we meet Lynsey as she is being released from a military facility and moving into a recovery home with a nurse named Sharon (Jayne Houdyshell). Dealing with the lingering effects of her injury, Lynsey is frustrated and alone. When she heads home to New Orleans, she moves back in with her mother, Gloria (Linda Emond), and finds a job cleaning pools. Her existence is solitary and most of the scenes in the first half hour of the movie feature Jennifer Lawrence by herself, isolated and silent, her performance conveyed entirely through her posture and facial expressions. Seeing Lawrence convey so many layers without saying a word is truly impressive and keeps your attention as she tries to keep her composure and occasionally fails to do so.
When her truck breaks down, Lynsey meets mechanic James (Brian Tyree Henry). They begin a tentative friendship that cannot become romantic since Lynsey reveals that she is gay. Still, there is a chemistry between Lynsey and James that develops over the course of the film. Both of them have endured their own traumatic injuries as James has a prosthetic leg and reveals how a car accident has cast a shadow over his life and lends meaning to the film’s title. Both of these characters spend the film sharing with each other what they have not shared with anyone else and it allows them each to exorcise their inner demons as well as give themselves to a friendship both have been longing for. At one point, the nature of that relationship is questioned and brings the dynamic between Lynsey and James to a boiling point that is the most powerful sequence in the entire film.
As good as Jennifer Lawrence is in Causeway, Brian Tyree Henry continues to prove himself as an incredibly versatile actor. Just looking at his turns in Atlanta as well as Marvel Studios’ Eternals and this year’s Bullet Train, Henry has a substantial range that is both relatable and real regardless of how fantastic the film. Causeway is a deeply realistic story and Henry conveys such a well of grief and pain that you can feel it radiating from the screen. It also helps that he and Jennifer Lawrence work very well together and their interactions run the gamut from raw and emotional to sincere and touching. You truly imagine these two characters as realistic friends and potential love interests whose interactions in this story elevate this story to another level entirely. Even with the solid supporting performances in this film, Causeway is predominantly a shared story for Lawrence and Henry.
It is also impressive to consider this is the feature film debut of director Lila Neugebauer whose previous credits include extensive stage work and the television series Room 104, Maid, and The Sex Lives of College Girls. Neugebauer captures the isolated existence that Lynsey lives in with the first and final shots serving as powerful bookends to the character’s emotional journey. She also makes sure to let the actors drive the story and gives us long, lingering shots of their body language and facial expressions. The script, written by newcomers Elizabeth Sanders, Luke Goebel, and Ottessa Moshfegh is simple and never tries to turn this into a message film but instead tracks the post-traumatic stress of two different people in a way that is not nearly as flashy or overtly dramatic as we have seen in a film before.
Causeway is a short film, clocking in at just over ninety minutes, but packs a lot in a limited time. This is a look at recovery for two people who are hurt, emotionally and physically, who find in one another someone who can support them in a way no one else can. Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry are as impressive in this film as any two actors in a movie this year and channel more in a blink, a smirk, or even a laugh than some actors can do with an extended monologue. Causeway is a beautifully understated movie that feels profound when no one is saying anything at all. Consistently authentic, Causeway is unlike any other film about trauma in recent memory and is a wonderful example of writing, directing, and acting.
Causeway is now streaming on Apple TV+.