Movie Review:

Delia Owens’s novel Where The Crawdads Sing was a revelation upon release in 2018. Her debut capitalised on a long-standing tradition of American literary greats. Like Harper Lee in To Kill A Mockingbird and Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn before her, it entwines a deep-South story of Americana with bigotry. But, like those novels before it, Crawdads is of its time. It submerges its 1969, period-piece story in a murder mystery – a genre well-travelled in contemporary literature – but it does so exquisitely and elevates what could be a tired story in the hands of a lesser writer into a beautiful one. In fact, it has become one of the best-selling books of all time.

Now – rightfully so – it’s receiving a screen adaptation thanks to the workings of Reese Witherspoon, who’s producing the film.

Raised in the marshes of North Carolina, Catherine “Kya” Clarke – played, with gentle at one moment and then exquisite furore in the next, by Daisy-Edgar Jones - is endlessly resourceful. Abandoned by her parents and older siblings in the early 1950s, Kya learns to survive on her own. She is taught to read and write by her friend Tate Walker (Taylor John Smith) and falls for him but is left behind once again when he goes to college.

Chase Andrews (Harris Dickinson) is a quarterback who draws Kya into a tryst with promises of marriage that never materialise. After Kya ends their relationship, Chase attacks her and she narrowly escapes. Then, while she is away, Chase is found dead and Kya is engulfed in a murder trial, with the evidence against her seeming insurmountable

Like it’s novel, this film adaptation is haunting and ethereal, and tells us more about ourselves through a thought-provoking, wise, and deeply moving story.

Where The Crawdads Sing is opening at the Bowen Summergarden Cinema on July 22.

Daisy Edgar Jones and Taylor John Smith in Where The Crawdads Sing

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