Where The Crawdads Sing (2022)

Set in North Carolina, when a popular young man (Harris Dickinson) is found dead, a young woman (Daisy Edgar Jones) who is referred to by the townspeople as "the marsh girl" because she lives alone deep in the marshlands is accused of murder. Based on the best selling novel by Delia Owens and directed by Olivia Newman (FIRST MATCH). This combination of coming of age drama and murder mystery isn't especially notable or fresh. I haven't read the book so I have no idea why it was so popular. The movie jumps back and forth to the girls' childhood and her abusive father and her fending herself after her father abandons her while the present day story of her murder trial becomes the focus of the story. The film has two major reasons to watch: the central performance by Daisy Edgar Jones and the evocative cinematography of Polly Morgan (QUIET PLACE II). But on the whole, it comes across as yet another oppressive victim story with stereotypical ignorant Southern "crackers" filled with small town bullies as well as hate and prejudice. Audiences liked it enough to turn it into a modest box office hit. With David Strathairn, very good as Jones's lawyer, Taylor John Smith, Michael Hyatt and Sterling Macer Jr.