Review of Where the Crawdads Sing (2022) by Kenr — 12 Feb 2023

Looking more like an extended episode of Bud Schulberg’s interesting old low-budget TV series “The Everglades” (if anyone can recall that one) this superbly location-filmed effort is big on visual beauty but light on believability.

We have a very young girl (7-8) without any means of family or financial support (apart from some mussel gathering) surviving alone in a highly hostile environment, growing up clean and civilized, over a vital decade of her developing youth - seemingly, solely on some meager local storekeeper charity.

..all this alone is quite a stretch. Now comes the by-the-numbers murder trial, with its manipulative casting of mean, unlikeable prosecution, and most agreeable defense. Then, we the viewer, after being convinced it was not possible, are left with absolutely no knowledge of just how the crime was committed.

While good to look at, with a hard-working cast, interesting score, this interpretation does not overcome some poor screenplay information, ending up resembling more of a Romance-Lifestyle Channel movie - still, that seems to be pleasing many undemanding viewers.