‘Where the Crowdads Sing’ movie review: The beauty, the light and the darkness within them

a rhythm with where the crowdads sing Flow that makes the experience feel like reading a book. The frames are as soft as paper, the setting evokes the dimness of the pages of a lost book, and little details are written with long wide strokes, but the frames don’t flutter when they’re turned. Lucy Alibar’s screenplay for the film, directed by Olivia Newman, has the right, measured pace to tell a straightforward story that is helped by beautiful scenes of lonely life in a moorland. The film is full of textual and visual metaphors and enough subversion to add more flavor.

In 1969, Katherine “Kya” Danielle Clark (played by the brilliant Daisy Edgar-Jones), a mysterious girl living in a moorland in Barclay Cove, North Carolina, is on trial for the murder of Chase Andrews (Harris Dickinson). is run. A young man from a nearby town. From prison, Kaya begins to tell the story of who she really is. In 1953, as a young girl, Kya (JoJo Regina) saw her mother abandon her children to get away from her abusive husband. In the following months, Kaya’s three siblings also leave her, and the child now has to live in his father’s shadow until he too leaves. Kaya now has to fight, thrive and learn to live everything on her own. How the case moves inside the courtroom and what’s life varies between up and then, but where the crowdads sing Courtroom is not drama.

It is primarily a coming-of-age romance drama that talks about nature’s relationship with humans, the irony and artificiality of the world of men, the darkness within nature and men, and so on. Abandoned by the family and cut off from the townspeople – who despise her existence and spread rumors and stories about ‘The Marsh Girl’ – Marsh is everything she holds dear. The swamp nourishes and comforts her only in ways she knew. Growing up in solitude and told to beware of dangers – ironically from the man who shows how men rob women’s lives – is what the townspeople are obliged to beware of. This, of course, changes slowly, for his best and for his worst.

Over the years, Kaya meets two love interests – the lovable, blue-eyed Tate Walker (Taylor John Smith) and the manipulative, controlling, volatile youngster Chase Andrews. Interestingly, both men enter Kaya’s life in similar ways, and they both unintentionally or unintentionally hurt Kaya, but there’s something deep inside Chase that we can’t point a finger at in the beginning. Yes, he comes across as a soft guy who wants to get into Kya’s pants, but there’s also something darker and violent about him. Even the colors of the costume he wears – played with colors throughout the film – make him look like the darkness that permeates the light. It is commendable how even in the depiction of these two persons, the text lives up to its theme and speaks of the duality of nature.

The most wonderful aspect is how the screenplay depicts the cyclical nature of people’s lives. While clearly shown when Kya learns what her mother felt when she left, a film lets us understand that Kya and her father are both creatures of this world that operate at two extremes. and how to survive, one has to go to the other side. Similarly, it is also enjoyable to see how wings and shells are used symbolically throughout the film. Kaya believes that every creature in the swamp is one with her, and having lived among them all her life, the love for these creatures goes beyond the allure of nature’s creations. She is also a talented artist who can depict the flora and fauna of the swamps impeccably. Therefore, a shell with a blood-red pigment may find itself in a bloody scene, the bird’s feathers are used to symbolize a distinct courtship behavior that exists among some species of birds, and his drawings hope. become a symbol.

All thanks to beautiful cinematography (by Polly Morgan), production design and color grading, every frame feels like a painting. There is something supernatural about the world in which Kaya lives, and interestingly, these scenes are most often shown when what is in a place of rest. The sequence in which Tate takes her out to show her a flock of snow geese on her birthday is easily one of the beautiful sights. Though the dialogue is measured and sometimes very poetic, it doesn’t help the flow of the script at all. A few lines of what, to make us think of the unimaginable state of his existence, bring about a certain falsity that may not necessarily turn you away, but may be an unnecessary reminder that the world you see is is the only construction that represents a real world. While it is commendable how the film delivers an important message against social exclusion and the trivial complexities of modern society, the film does not delve deeply into the issues it cares about. Also, although we tend to view the entire film from Kya’s point of view, this may not be your top pick of a good character study.

where the crowdads sing Might not be a perfect film, but it is a film that makes you crave more such good storytelling and ample dose of heartwarming moments. But don’t rush, because this is a film that tells a story till the end. Moments before the screen turns dim, some darkness permeates; The darkness that was always exposed; The darkness behind which was hidden her dark beauty. It’s like someone just finished reading you a book, but you can still hear the whispers…