Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry star in Causeway, a tale of personal healing. The film was shown during a special presentation screening at this year’s 2022 London Film Festival.
★★★✰✰
Jennifer Lawrence plays an ex-US Army soldier, recovering from both mental, and physical injuries. After suffering an explosive incident on the field, we follow her character, Lynsey, through the tribulations of recovery. When Lynsey’s car breaks down, she meets James (played by Brian Tyree Henry) at the car garage, a laid-back, comforting, and quiet man — and someone who is experiencing traumas of his own. They bond over their personal experiences, both suffering from the effects of harmful incidents.
Jennifer is far from a stranger to playing emotionally difficult and compelling characters. Yet her character feels refreshing, perfectly suited to her, and a step back to her ‘indie’ film beginnings. In Causeway, we see her struggling to adjust to normal life after recovering from a brain injury caused by fighting in Afghanistan. The film, produced by Lawrence’s own production company, Excellent Cadaver, shows a personal and close human realness that is comforting and heart-warming to see. Despite personal experience, or lack thereof, a part of everyone can empathise with this. Connection between character and audience in this way is a rarity, yet necessary. Causeway does just that.
The film kept a slower pace, which to some may have felt lackadaisical. However, to others, was far from sluggish. Causeway had the ability to take viewers to a place much deeper than the surface of the story, into the often-silenced effects of trauma. Director Lila Neugebauer does an excellent job of withholding information, and the slow backstory reveals are what makes each character quite so interesting. However, this felt drawn out at times, and parts of this slightly unnecessary to the fluidity of the film, perhaps even slightly distracting. A true standout of the film that must not be ignored, is the way it is written. The gaps of silence between characters speak volumes. The genius screenplay behind this success was co-written by Luke Goebel, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Elizabeth Sanders.
If you don’t already know Brian Tyree Henry, the multi-talented actor was first discovered by the masses in his breakthrough role in the heist film Widows (2018)) He is undeniably the beating heart of this film, and the man that sealed the deal of giving Causeway the emotional, yet somber edge that solidifies its excellence.
Throughout Causeway, we never actually see either Lynsey or James’ incident, there are no showings of the explosion, or car crash. Yet the extremity of these events is completely understood by the viewer, so much so that the lack of showing goes unnoticed. It is a talent to be able to portray such a strong representation of what each character has gone through trauma-wise, without explicitly showcasing any of these events.
At the root of it all, the base of the film lies in the deeper meaning of the story, it is a tale of care, empathy, and the stages of personal grief, along with thoughts and feelings.
The Verdict
Causeway is exactly what it needs to be — almost light-hearted at times, without brushing over the sensitivity needed to portray themes of pain, and loss; both physical and mental. It is an almost perfect mix of showing the intensity of differences between the dark and light of relationship-forming following trauma, and the difficulties of resuming a normal life after this. Although Lila may have missed the mark slightly with pace, Causeway is undeniably a touching, and thought-provoking production.
Words by Mia Stapleton
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