Where the Crawdads Sing
Directed by Olivia Newman
Written by Lucy Alibar
Starring Daisy Edgar Jones, Harris Dickinson, David Straithairn
Release Date July 15th, 2022
Where the Crawdads Sing is too cowardly to be the kind of unconventional movie it could be. The story of a young woman raising herself in a South Carolina Swamp, Where the Crawdads Sing has an intriguing idea at heart but fails to capitalize on that idea. Instead, the film, and, I am told, the book, fall back on a conventional courtroom story to carry the drama. There is nothing wrong with a good courtroom mystery but it needs to be better than your average episode of Law & Order television episode or it needs to be scrapped. Crawdads fails that test.
Where the Crawdads Sing tells the story of Kya Clark, played as a child by Jojo Regina and Leslie France, and played as an adult by Daisy Edgar Jones, is known as ‘The Marsh Girl." The judgmental nickname is given to Kya by residents of the town closest to her swamp home. Kya’s family each left the marsh years ago, a series of leavings that are covered in a well crafted montage, while Kya chose to stay. At first, Kya stayed to care for her alcoholic father, played by Garret Dillahunt. Eventually, Kya just came to love the marsh and after finding ways to care for herself, she stayed.
