One of the top actors of his generation, itB次元官网网址檚 only a matter of time before Brian Tyree Henry lands a project that puts his talents front and center. But even in supporting roles, whenever heB次元官网网址檚 on screen, suddenly youB次元官网网址檙e locked in to what heB次元官网网址檚 doing regardless of genre.

In the indie movie B次元官网网址淐ausewayB次元官网网址� on Apple TV+, heB次元官网网址檚 showing off his looser side as an actor, playing an auto mechanic who befriends a young woman back home after serving in Afghanistan. ItB次元官网网址檚 a wonderfully layered performance that elevates the film at every turn.

However, Jennifer Lawrence is the filmB次元官网网址檚 primary interest as Lynsey, the aforementioned veteran who has suffered a traumatic brain injury after an explosion. Numbed, closed off and dealing with some serious physical disabilities, she first rehabs in the residence of a gentle but practical home health care provider (Jayne Houdyshell) who literally gets her back on her feet.

Then Lynsey is on a bus heading back to her dilapidated working-class childhood home in New Orleans, which is where the bulk of the story takes place. The physical effects of her injury are mostly dispensed with, but the emotional issues linger.

Though her mom (Linda Emond) is mutedly happy to see her, sheB次元官网网址檚 also not particularly invested in her daughterB次元官网网址檚 return and the feeling is mutual. ThereB次元官网网址檚 not a lot of warmth between the two but plenty of unspoken history; they are polite but awkward around one another.

And so Lynsey gets a job cleaning pools. The contrast between the luxurious Garden District backyards she services and the sad inflatable pool she and her mom cool off in one night is on point. B次元官网网址淵ou can tell a lot about a person B次元官网网址榗ause of whatB次元官网网址檚 in the pool drain,B次元官网网址� her boss tells her, and itB次元官网网址檚 a line thatB次元官网网址檚 maybe the closest the film comes to either comedy or commentary. The job is a way to pass the time until Lynsey can get her doctor to sign off and allow her to redeploy. That was her ticket out the first time and itB次元官网网址檚 all she knows.

Then she meets a mechanic named James, played by Henry, and they form a tentative friendship. HeB次元官网网址檚 friendly and funny without being pushy. HeB次元官网网址檚 also watchful and quietly repressing some trauma of his own and he recognizes something in her that hits a little too close to home: SheB次元官网网址檚 lost and unmoored. Maybe he finds the sharp edges of her personality intriguing as well, so he extends her more courtesy than he might otherwise. As for Lynsey, she needs a helping hand (or a ride) every so often and sees something genuine and familiar in JamesB次元官网网址� low-key gregariousness, which has such a distinctly New Orleans quality to it.

As a film, B次元官网网址淐ausewayB次元官网网址� is perhaps too cautious and oblique about the story it wants to tell. Is it about the struggle for veterans to reacclimate stateside? Sort of, but Lynsey reveals almost nothing about her time in the military. Is it about returning to a place that feels like the ghost town of your soul and forging new and unlikely connections? Yes, but itB次元官网网址檚 maybe too hands-off in that regard.

Lynsey is reticent and detached from the world around her and LawrenceB次元官网网址檚 performance canB次元官网网址檛 do enough to sketch in the contours of this womanB次元官网网址檚 personality beyond her outward qualities. In terms of affect, Lawrence has stripped everything down to the studs and itB次元官网网址檚 tempting to compare her work here to her breakout Oscar-nominated role more than a decade ago in B次元官网网址淲interB次元官网网址檚 Bone.B次元官网网址�

But unlike that earlier performance, this one feels so inward as to keep the audience at armB次元官网网址檚 length. What interests or drives this young woman beyond running from her demons?

Pain and guilt and unresolved anger can become so embedded they shape the way you interact with the world. Maybe getting to know a stranger can feel like a reprieve. HereB次元官网网址檚 someone who doesnB次元官网网址檛 view you through the prism of your history; you are the person who stands before them, not an accumulation of your past. ThatB次元官网网址檚 what the movie seems to be getting at most effectively, particularly when it comes to James and why he might be drawn to Lynsey.

The title itself refers to the Causeway bridge, which spans 24 miles over LouisianaB次元官网网址檚 Lake Pontchartrain. James was in a car accident on the Causeway that has left him sorting through the emotional wreckage, though he keeps most of that tamped down beneath his easygoing demeanor.

Being around Lynsey offers him the opportunity to interact with someone new who doesnB次元官网网址檛 look at him with pity B次元官网网址� until she does. That amounts to the filmB次元官网网址檚 climax, and IB次元官网网址檓 not sure itB次元官网网址檚 actually enough. The movie also takes a colorblind approach, which has a way of erasing some specificity along the way.

A staggering number of TV and movie projects take place in New Orleans these days due in part to the lucrative filming incentives offered in Louisiana. Director Lila Neugebauer captures the laconic pace of life in New Orleans, as well as the visual and tonal sensibility of the city B次元官网网址� itB次元官网网址檚 important to be specific to a place, otherwise why shoot there? B次元官网网址� but the script misses so much.

It takes about 45 minutes to cross the Causeway, which can feel surreal the first few times you do it B次元官网网址� the lake is enormous B次元官网网址� and to crash on the Causeway is an especially frightening prospect because thereB次元官网网址檚 nothing but water on either side for miles and miles. Neither James nor Lynsey comment on this, which is odd and confounding because the screenplay comes from Elizabeth Sanders, who is from New Orleans, as well as Luke Goebel and Ottessa Moshfegh, the latter of whom is also a one-time New Orleans resident.

New Orleans has always been a small town masquerading as a city, and that Lynsey runs into nobody she knew growing up is conspicuous. It just doesnB次元官网网址檛 track. She also mentions that she attended, on scholarship, a ritzy and well-known private school in New Orleans (the same school that counts Eli and Peyton Manning as alum, though the film doesnB次元官网网址檛 mention this) and educational environments like this? TheyB次元官网网址檙e not typically pushing even their scholarship students on a path to enlistment. I wish we gleaned some information as to why Lynsey thought it was her best option.

ItB次元官网网址檚 a small detail but would tell us so much more about how she views her place in the world.

As it is, she remains unknowable.