‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ (2022) | Movie Review

Where the Crawdads Sing is based on the best-selling novel and stars Daisy Edgar-Jones as Kya, an abandoned girl who raised herself to adulthood in the dangerous marshlands of North Carolina. She’s kept to herself all her life, but when a mysterious murder happens and the town pins her as a suspect, the ‘Marsh Girl’ will have to explain her story, and hope the truth comes to light. While the premise feels captivating on it’s head, this film chooses to play everything as safe as possible, and gives us a fairly bland story overall.

I have loved seeing the many roles Daisy Edgar-Jones is being featured in, but this is undoubtedly her weakest to date. The Marsh Girl never really felt like she lived alone, more she was the ‘Matilda’ of this story but her powers were in catching seafood to sell to a local market. There’s a couple moments where we see her ragged barefeet, but that was during the time she was living with her abusive father. The Marsh left the girl once he did, and suddenly she never wants for anything, perfectly clean, always stylish and hair made decent. If we are to really believe this character does what she does, she needs to look the part.

The love triangle between her young love and her potential future love was stale, and repetitive. None of the emotions or chemistry felt believable. If none of this works, one would hope at least the courtroom drama would be enticing enough to keep you engaged. But that too plays like a poorly written episode of Law & Order, with nothing to surprise of call into question our main character. We never feel suspense.

Overall, this one is not for me. In fact, I’m assuming once this year wraps up this will be one of the films I will have to think about after I’ve compiled most the films I’ve seen. It’s forgettable, the story overused, and nothing to energize it.