For once I actually decided to continue trying to see as many Oscar nominated films after the ceremony, as well as films that received other accolades and nominations.
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Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry
in Causeway
Credit: Apple TV |
Causeway was a intimate little indie (like
To Leslie) with a familiar storyline--two damaged, disparate people form an unlikely friendship. Lynsey (Jennifer Lawrence), a young white lesbian woman, has returned home from Afghanistan after nearly getting blown up. She meets James (Oscar Supporting Actor Nominee Brian Tyree Henry), an African-American mechanic, dealing with his own post-traumatic stress following a car accident resulting in the loss of his leg and the death of his nephew. They meet when Lynsey's truck breaks down and reach out to each other. We've seen this scenario before, but it's handled with tenderness and subtlety. Director Lila Neugebauer has numerous Off-Broadway credits and the cast is stuffed with NYC theater actors including Tony winner Jayne Houdyshell (
The Humans), Linda Emond (
Enchanted April, Homebody: Kabul), Frederick Weller (
Seascape, Some Men), and Stephen McKinley Henderson (
Fences, Between Riverside and Crazy). Emond is particularly subtle as Lynsey's neglectful mother. She doesn't lay it on thick with a molasses accent or drunken slurring. She quietly displays the mother's selfishness in small details such as the way she casually tells her boyfriend on the phone she's not doing anything when her daughter is sitting right there. The screenplay has three authors, which is weird, but I was familiar with only one: Otessa Moshfegh from her novel
My Year of Rest and Relaxation which I enjoyed.
