'Causeway' Review: Jennifer Lawrence Elevates A Trauma Drama

The drama debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival and begins streaming on Apple TV+ this weekend.

“Causeway” feels like a film that, more than anything, exists as a vehicle for Jennifer Lawrence to remind everyone she’s really good at this acting thing. I don’t even necessarily say that as a knock on the film; a lot of perfectly decent movies are propped up by the performances of their stars, and this is a decent movie with excellent performances.  

Lawrence plays Lynsey, a U.S. military service member returning to New Orleans after suffering a brain injury in a horrific incident in Afghanistan. She needs mental, physical and emotional rehabilitation, though she’s determined to convince her doctor (Stephen McKinley Henderson) and herself she’s ready for immediate redeployment. The doctor won’t be rushed. Lynsey, though, is clearly more comfortable risking her life overseas than holding a conversation with her mother (Linda Emond) or, in general, being in the place where she grew up. “Causeway” presents her experience as both the plight of a soldier struggling to adjust to life back home and the discomfort of reliving whatever it is she was trying to get away from when she left in the first place. It’s bleak. 

While she rehabs and waits for her doctor’s signoff, she gets a job as a pool technician and meets James (Brian Tyree Henry). He’s a kind, down-to-earth mechanic with his own physical and emotional scars stemming from a gut-wrenching accident that continues to haunt him. They become friends, bonding over their pain and resigned to the mindset life will probably always be more or less what they’re going through now.