Causeway is a momentous film for a few reasons: making its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival 2022, it marks Lila Neugebauer's feature directorial debut, and a triumphant return to indie movies for Jennifer Lawrence. Here, the Oscar-winner actress stars as Lynsey, a woman who returns home to New Orleans after suffering severe brain and body injuries as a result of her vehicle hitting an explosive in Afghanistan while serving in the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers. Causeway traces Lynsey's physical rehabilitation - her goal is to return to the army - and follows the emotional connections she both repairs and forms along the way.
With a grounded script penned by Ottessa Moshfegh, Luke Goebel, and Elizabeth Sanders, Causeway is an examination of both physical and psychological trauma, particularly how the latter can often cut more deeply. Opposite Lawrence is the inimitable Brian Tyree Henry (Bullet Train) as James, a mechanic with whom Lynsey finds the solace and support that she doesn't necessarily receive from her mother (Linda Emond, The Unforgivable). Like Lynsey, James, too, has suffered tremendous pain and loss, and, more importantly, shut himself off from the rest of the world because of it.
Causeway is a deeply human film that succeeds in illustrating the twisty road to recovery and the strength it takes to let other people in. Neugebauer, here, relishes the in-between moments - the silent understanding between Lynsey and James, the things left unsaid between her and her mother, the uphill battle of rehabilitation between doctors' appointments - and effectively mines a complex portrait of what it means to be human, hurt, and healing. It's a slow-burn drama that tempts impatience at times, but that's perhaps the point: though Lynsey progresses in her recovery throughout the film, Causeway doesn't shy away from the fact that healing is, after all, sometimes a slow and painful process.
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Lawrence cut her teeth with indie films like The Burning Plain and Winter's Bone, winning over critics and audiences alike playing characters with charged interiorities. Since breaking out with the latter, even scoring her first Best Actress Oscar nomination, she has largely turned her attention to bigger franchises, like The Hunger Games movies and the X-Men prequel/reboots. This is partly why Causeway is a refreshing change of pace. Not that she doesn't turn in fine performances in blockbuster films - she's arguably the reason why they succeed - rather, Causeway reminds us of why she's one of the best actresses of her generation. Lynsey is subdued, still, and really just going through the motions of recovery, and yet Lawrence breathes life into the character, honing in on her innate desire for connection and her inability to comprehend it.
Of course, it's Henry who steals the show with his seemingly effortless performance as James. Similarly to Lynsey, James is nursing his own trauma, pain, and guilt from an accident on the causeway that changed his life forever (in more ways than one). It's no wonder, then, that the two gravitate towards each other. However, whereas Lynsey wishes to go back to the place that first harmed her, James seeks something new. The thing is: he doesn't always know what he wants or, if he does, how to go about obtaining it. Causeway's script affords James more moments for levity compared to Lynsey, and Henry absolutely latches on to each of them, putting forth a character in whom we can see ourselves.
Utlimately, Causeway is a sensitive character study, giving its actors some of the richest and most complex roles we've seen them play in a while. It's easy to see Neugebauer's theatrical roots in the way the film, like the stage, urges its performer to uncover and lay bare the full spectrum of their characters. And like any theater troupe, everyone is integral: Diego Garcia's cinematographic work make New Orleans almost another character in itself, and therefore impossible to resist; Alex Somers' music underscores what Lynsey feels even if she's put words to it; and Jack Fisk's production design brings us home.
TIFF 2022 runs September 8-18. For more information on Causeway, you can visit the film's page on the festival website. Per Variety, Causeway premieres on AppleTV+ on November 4, 2022.