Where the Crawdads Sing

Olivia Newman directs this screen adaptation of Delia Owen’s bestseller. Kya is a young girl who has spent her life in the North Carolina marshes. We first see her as a youngster (JoJo Regina) surrounded by her family, but an abusive father (Garret Dillahunt) tears the family apart, eventually leaving her abandoned. She is smart and resourceful and thanks to help from local store owners, more than survives. The older Kya (Daisy Edgar Jones) is befriended and falls for Tate (Taylor John Smith) who teaches her to read, write and develop an understanding of the biology around her. When Tate leaves she is pursued by Chase (Harris Dickinson). But when he is found dead Kya is charged and stands trial. Her lawyer (David Strathairn) must defend her from not only the accusation of murder but 20 years of rumour and hearsay about “The Marsh Girl”.

I’ve not read the novel so don’t have that reference but Where the Crawdads Sing is a disappointingly flat film.

The story is one we’ve seen before, the misunderstood outsider who a distrustful community find an opportunity to justify their treatment of them. There are some interesting undertones, abuse, abandonment, racism and misogyny which are all skipped over to focus on a rather laboured love story, which stops the more interesting film breaking free.

It is not terrible just bland, but it is lifted by an exceptional central performance from Daisy Edgar Jones. She is wonderfully believable as the strong, smart outsider, vulnerable but brave and fearless and very engaging. She is well supported, David Strathairn as good as always, JoJo Regina is also impressive as the young Kya. Smith and Dickinson are solid, although they are more limited by their paper thin characters.

Where the Crawdads Sing should be better. All the elements are there for an interesting story that explores some dark subjects. However, it plays it safe skirting around the tough topics to give us rather flat film. Daisy Edgar Jones is fabulous throughout, but deserved a better film around her.