Where the Crawdads Sing

What I liked: I liked that for a feral child she was exceptionally well socialized and educated. Her art really was quite beautiful. I liked that they made it a mystery and a pretty good one. The people I went with were flabbergasted walking out of the theater. I liked the friendly couple in the store, their kindness and involvement made it much more believable that she was able to survive in the swamp/marsh all by herself. In most movies narration does not work it's just boring and a lazy, but efficient, way to tell us a lot of backstory very quickly. It worked ok here since she was talking with her lawyer.

What I didn't: Where were the crawdads? The titular character had exactly 0 screen time and was mentioned only once. What does a crawdad song sound like? Do they have like a little nightclub or something for Karaoke? The most important mystery of this movie went completely unaddressed. Much less important, in a town of 300 if the quarterback was cheating on his fiance with the local pariah, everyone would know. His fiance, his parents, the shopkeepers, and very quickly the town pariah. So, that is was a total surprise to her seems extremely unlikely. I know that she go most of her clothes from the church donation pile, but that if the dress she got when she was 10 still fits her at 18, I have major nutritional concerns. That her publisher wanted to meet with her and put her up in a fancy hotel and buy her a fancy dinner after a single publication of a nonfiction book about seashells also strains credibility. If I were the prosecution, that is the first thing that I would go after.

Who should watch this? People who like mysteries, people who think that children can raise themselves in the middle of the marsh and turn out a ok. Not people who are interested in crawdads. But in all seriousness, domestic abuse and assault are major plot points so it is definitely for a more mature audience and is not the right choice for a fun carefree night in.

Would I watch it again? It was a well made mystery, not very rewatchable.

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