Where the Crawdads Sing is based on a book I’d forgotten about and certainly hadn’t read. So I went in pretty blind, figuring it might be a swamp-based adventure… having not put any thought into whether or not a crawdad could sing. Maybe they can burble or snicker snee, but sing? Probably not. Probably they just sit around lookin’ creepy.

Anyhow, the flick is about a “marsh girl” who lives alone out there in the swamps of North Carolina. When a local boy winds up dead and flimsy evidences points to her, she’s arrested and put on trial. We then get a flashback to her life while the trial goes on.

I rather enjoyed the mystery in this flick, even if I had some pretty basic problems with the film. The way the mystery evolves and we learn backstories was pretty compelling. I was actually worried about the verdict. This worked… until it didn’t.

Unfortunately, the actual answer to this mystery was the least interesting version of the story possible. And maybe this worked better in the book but here I was creating alternate, more elaborate, and more interesting solutions.

The actual trial itself is ridiculous even though I worried about the verdict. The evidence for this case was so weak and circumstantial, I couldn’t believe they were seriously putting this on film. And maybe that’s the point (everyone hates the marsh girl so the evidence doesn’t matter) or maybe the book is simply more elaborate and convincing.

The lead actress was probably miscast… or, I dunno, maybe she’s a carbon copy of the book character? But I was expecting a more… I dunno… swampy? southern-fried, down-home, moss-covered, Cajun hillbilly (swampbilly?) kinda gal. Daisy Edgar Jones is just a little too shiny, a little too Hollywood for the part. But she still worked despite that because the character is great (and she plays her well).

So it’s a little disappointing on a couple fronts that are probably due to the translation from book to film. But I still enjoyed the movie and I was still moved and worried about the resolution of the stupid trial. And I really liked the character and the actor since it’s not really her fault she didn’t look or act the cliché I was expecting.

Score: 84