Where The Crawdads Sing - 💥💥

Director: Olivia Newman

Writers: Lucy Alibar 

Release Date: 22nd July 2022

Hot Rating: 💥💥

Synopsis: A coming-of-age, murder mystery and ecodrama all wrapped in one, Olivia Newman’s Where The Crawdads Sing is an adaptation of Delia Owen’s 2018 international bestseller. The story centres on Kya (Daisy Edgar-Jones) who, having been abandoned as a child, grew up in the marshlands of North Carolina. There were rumours of a marsh girl haunting Barkley Cove for years, which has only isolated Kya from the local community. When she meets two young men from town, Tate () and Chase Andrews (Harrison Dickinson) a new and startling world opens up for her. However, it is Kya who becomes the main suspect when one of them is found dead. Jumping between the past and the present, the case slowly unfolds, and with it comes many secrets. 

Review: As inconsistent as its source material. It's no secret that Owens' novel, with its deep south setting, is laced with stereotypes that many find troubling, and the writer's own run-ins with the law further mar the book. My main qualm, based on my own reading and viewing, is that the story shifts style and tone too haphazardly. The only person with a grasp on this unruly narrative is Daisy Edgar-Jones, who captures the complexity of her character, and avoids the temptation to stick too closely to the page. The same cannot be said of her male counterparts, who occupy two-dimensional ‘good’ and ‘bad’ roles. What is lacking in authentic emotion, is made up for in scenery. In this story, the Louisiana Marsh is the central character, with all its squelching wetlands and picturesque greenery, and so Newman frames it as an omnipotent presence over the chaos of the human world. 

Image: YouTube