Causeway (2022, R)

Despite some issues, this quiet character drama offers up a nice portrait of two people connecting amid pain. The story moves slowly, but it’s anchored by the honest performances of the leads.

After a serious injury while on deployment, Lynsey returns to her childhood home as she recovers and tries to figure out next steps. Dealing with a traumatic brain injury and struggling with reminders of a past she’d rather forget, she happens to meet James, a friendly mechanic with baggage of his own.

This is the sort of indie story that operates more on vibes than plot. We know that Lynsey feels stuck, that she’s frustrated and wants to get back to her “real” life, and that she’s self-conscious of accepting help or talking about her TBI. We know that James is a good guy who doesn’t always know the “correct” thing to do but generally errs on the side of grace. After a couple of initial chance encounters, their lives become gently entwined as they pass the time together and gradually start to open up about their hidden hurts.

Both the leads in this movie, frustratingly, are able-bodied actors playing characters with disabilities. I was nervous at the start of the film, which is heavy on the immediate aftermaths of Lynsey’s TBI and rehabilitation—I didn’t want to watch a whole film of Jennifer Lawrence “bravely struggling” to walk. (Note: This is entirely about the discomfort of watching able-bodied actors play their character’s disability, not about real disabled bodies and how they work.) But by the time she arrives at her mom’s house, she’s recovered a lot of her motor and linguistic abilities, and for the most part, her disability isn’t portrayed in a “showy performance” way. And James uses a prosthetic, having lost his leg in a car accident. Again, there’s nothing “showy” about this aspect of the character, and there’s only one scene in which CGI is used to make it look like Brian Tyree Henry has an amputation. So these aren’t the baity type of disabled performances you often see from able-bodied actors. It’s still a bummer, though, and given the high-profile leads, I doubt any disabled actors were ever considered for the roles.

On the plus side, we get a surprise appearance from Russell Harvard toward the end. I first took notice of Harvard back in There Will Be Blood, and I’m always pleased to see him pop up in stuff. I’m always in favor of more Deaf actors in films, and his scene is understated but lovely.

Getting back to the main performances, Lawrence and Henry do a great job of showing Lynsey and James’s subtle slide into friendship. The script features a lot of them just hanging out, punctuated by occasional weighty conversations, so the success of the film hinges on their ability to pull you in as they eat snow cones or carry a rowing machine. Lawrence gives a low-key but effective performance as Lynsey, a very independent person who’s struggling to recalibrate her immediate future. And Henry got a Best Supporting Actor nomination for playing James, which he does with warmth, humor, and empathy. Even though the disability stuff still bugs me, it is nice to see Henry recognized by the Academy—he’s always great but almost never flashy, which is the sort of acting that can be hard for award shows to pick up on.

Warnings

Language, drinking, thematic elements, and able-bodied actors playing disabled characters.