7 minute read
‘Where the Crawdads Sing’
from Sunday Signal 072422
by Signal
ENTERTAINMENT
By Richard Roeper
Signal Contributing Writer
(out of four) 3000 Pictures presents a film directed by Olivia Newman and written by Lucy Alibar, based on the novel by Delia Owens. Rated PG-13. In theaters.
You’ve never seen a Marsh Girl as attractive and kempt and impressive as the Marsh Girl in “Where the Crawdads Sing.” Even though she has lived all by herself in a rudimentary cabin deep in the wetlands for the better part of a decade with no formal schooling and very little social contact, she looks like she stepped out of a Sears catalog and apparently shaves her legs, bathes and shampoos on a regular basis, has lovely white teeth, and get this: She’s such a brilliant observer and student of her surroundings, such a talented artist, that she just sold a book of her drawings of seashells to a publisher and received a nifty $5,000 advance, and this is in 1969, so that’s about 40 grand in today’s dollars. Marsh Girl has it going on!
And yet when Marsh Girl is literally hauled out of the water and charged with the murder of a local young man named Chase who is a former football hero, practically everyone in town is convinced she’s guilty, because after all, she’s that weirdo Marsh Girl, aka Missing Link, aka Wolf Girl. Nothing but a savage, they’ll tell ya. Of course she murdered Chase, because she knew she wasn’t good enough for him.
This is one of the many eyebrowraising hitches in the plot of the uneven and at times implausible periodpiece drama “Where the Crawdads Sing,” and yet we are recommending it because Daisy Edgar-Jones (“Under the Banner of Heaven”) is luminous and spectacularly effective in the lead role, it’s one of the most gorgeously photographed films of the year, the invaluable David Strathairn provides terrific supporting work, and despite the problematic storyline, it works as an escapist piece of fantasy entertainment.
Director Olivia Newman (“First Match”) and screenwriter Lucy Alibar surroundings, getting to know all the creatures great and small with the skill set of the untrained but talented scientist/author she will become.
A goodhearted and handsome local boy named Tate Walker (Taylor John Smith) takes a shine to Kya, first befriending her, then teaching her to read and write and eventually falling in love with her, and for this stretch of time the film plays like a soggy version of “The Notebook.” Tate goes off to the University of North Carolina with the promise to return to Kya on the Fourth of July, but in a heartbreakingly effective scene, Kya spends the night on the beach alone and wakes up devastated because Tate never showed.
A year or so later, another handsome local comes calling. Chase Andrews says all the right things as he courts Kya, but there’s something off about this guy. Against her better judgment, Kya allows Chase into her heart, but she eventually learns
the truth about this jerk and tries to extricate herself from his life, but the possessive and duplicitous and violent Chase is having none of it. When Chase is found dead in the marsh, all signs and a considerable amount of circumstantial evidence point to Kya, which leads to the trial portion of the movie, complete with witnesses who are predisposed to judge Kya, a district attorney dead set on convicting her and a courtroom packed with observers who react on cue every time a bombshell is dropped. After Laemmle Theatres • Santa Clarita Signal the verdict is read, we’re given an epi3col (4.75”) x 5.9” logue that spans a number of decades and feels rather rushed but provides Ad insertion date: a measure of suitably satisfying albeit Ad creation/delivery date: melodramatic closure. Thanks in large part to the beautiful work by Edgar-Jones and the consistently stunning visuals, “Where the Crawdads Sing” provides just enough marshland entertainment to carry the day. Copyright 2022 Chicago Sun-Times
Tuesday, July 19, 2022 at 11:21:06 AM CASCS _ LEM0724-0728.qxp
PHOTO COURTESY IMDB (“Beasts of the Southern Wild”) have Sunday-Thursday, July 24-28, 2022 been tasked with adapting one of the most successful books in recent history: the 2018 novel of the same name by Delia Owens, which sold a whopping 12 million copies after being selected by Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine Book Club. (Witherspoon is one of the executive producers of the movie.) With Louisiana filling in for North Carolina, the time-jumping storyline is faithful to the novel, telling the story of one Catherine Danielle Clark, aka Kya, who is but 6 years old by the time her mother, TM NEWHALL then her older siblings and finally her abusive father abandon their marsh22500 Lyons Ave. info Line 310.478.3836 land cabin, leaving Kya to fend for Bringing the Finest in Film to the SCV! herself. Somehow the girl survives for years, with the occasional help of NOPE E 1:00 The film reunites Peele 4:10 with Osc 7:15 ar® winner Daniel Kaluuya who is joined by Keke Palmer and Oscar® nominee Steven Yeun as Mabel (Michael Hyatt) and Jumpresidents MRS. in a lonely HARR gulch of inland Calif IS GOES TO ornia who bear w PARIS B itness to Sun: an unca 1:30 nny and c 4:30 hilling discovery. 7:20; Mon: 1:30 4:30; in’ (Sterling Macer Jr.), a local couple Tue: 4:30 7:20; Wed: 1:30 4:30 7:20; Thu: 1:30 4:30 who own a nearby grocery store and In partnership with the House madly in love with a couture D of Dior, Mrs. Harris G ior dress. She works, oes To Paris starves and tells the s gambles tory of a to raise t widowed he funds, cleaning lady then embarks in 1950s London wh on a life-changing o falls seem to exist solely for the purpose of adventure in Paris. quietly and kindly looking after Kya PAWS A hard-onOF F his-luck URY: THE LEGE hound Hank finds himself N in D OF a town f HANK ull of cats w B ho nee 1:20 d a hero 4 to :20 defend them from a ruthless villain’s evil plot. whenever they can. (Jojo Regina does wonderful work portraying Kya as a With help from a reluctant teacher, dogs! WHERE THE CRAWD our underdog must team u ADS SING C p with t 1:10 he villag 4:10 ers 7 to save :10 the day. The only problem - cats hate little girl, with Edgar-Jones picking up the role when Kya is a teenager Kya, an abandoned girl who raised herself to herself to two young men from town. THOR: LOVE AND THUND adul ER thood in t C he 1 dangerous marshlands :20 4:20 7:20 of North Carolina, finds herself drawn to opens and young woman in her 20s.) “Thor: Love and Butcher, who se Thunder”finds Thor on eks the extinction of th a e quest gods. for inner peace. But his retirement is interrupted by a galactic killer, Gorr the God
It’s 1969 when the adult Kya is ar- MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU B 1:00 3:10 5:20 7:30 rested and charged with the murder A young Gru joins forces with his new Minion friends to take on the supervillain supergroup The Vicious 6. of upscale townie Chase Andrews ELV “Elvis” IS C is Oscar-nomi 7:00 PM nated filmmaker Baz Luhrmann’s musical drama about the life and music of Elvis Presley, seen through the (Harris Dickinson). Retired attorney prism of his complicated relationship with his enigmatic manager, Colonel Tom Parker Tom Milton (David Strathairn), who TO After P m G ore UN than : MAVERICK thirty years of service C as one of 1:10 the Nav 4:00 7:00 y’s top aviators, Pete “Maverick”Mitchell is pushing the envelope as a is right out of the “To Kill a Mockcourageous test pilot. ingbird” playbook, volunteers to take FAST TIMES A coming-of-age stor AT RIDG y chronicling a EMONT group of high HIG school H E Thu: students growin 7:30 g up in PM southern California as they engage in the pursuit Kya’s case and tells her he can’t deof sex, drugs, and rock n’roll. fend her unless he gets to know her, at least a little bit. Cue the flashbacks NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE: THE Mon: 7:30 PM; Tue: 1:00 PM Two young people and their dÊmons, with everything BOO at stake, K fin OF DUS d themselves T at / th LA B e centre EL of a LE terri SAVAGE fying manhunt. In their care is to the 1950s and early 1960s, as we a tiny child called Lyra Belacqua, and in that child lies the fate of the future. see how Kya becomes one with her WWW.LAEMMLE.COM FOR 7/24/20227/28/2022 ONLY
