Goin’ down the Bayou, not takin’ you all the way.
We meet two young characters who don’t meet face to face, but have their own turmoil in the same environment of Caddo Lake. The movie, titled “Caddo Lake,” makes the border between Texas and Louisiana look like the perfect setting for a mystery thriller, but it gets us lost within the story, which tends to have its characters meander and argue. It’s kind of exhausting.
Eliza Scanlen plays Ellie, who is always at her mother’s (Lauren Ambrose) throat over her new marriage, while Dylan O’Brien plays Paris, who is trying to solve the mystery of his mother’s death. He’s told she suffered from seizures and it may be hereditary if he starts suffering from them. But he knows something isn’t right.
Ellie’s stepsister Anna (Caroline Falk) goes missing, and is blamed by her mother and stepfather Daniel (Eric Lange) because of how they say Anna followed her home on a motorboat after Ellie storms off from another argument. That’s when she disappears, and that’s when the search party begins. It’s basically the same scene over and over, as the young girl argues and there’s barely any reasons within them. It’s quite annoying compared to what genre the story wants to explore.
The bayou unfolds mysteries for both Ellie and Paris, who discover that things aren’t what they appear to be. No surprise there since the film is produced by M. Night Shyamalan, who also produced “The Watchers” and directed “Trap” this year, both of which were crappy. Now, what happens in those woods is something that boggles our minds and has us interested. But unfortunately, they have to succumb to unnecessary cliches.
O’Brien delivers two entertaining performances this Fall. He was great as Dan Aykroyd in “Saturday Night,” which is just getting its nationwide release, and he does a good job in “Caddo Lake,” as a young man trying to make sense out of his own family drama. And Scanlen is a fine young actress from Australia, who does a good job at adapting to American accents and playing young women with emotions. These two leads work, if only the rest of the cast was as provocative as they are.
The locations of the film are beautifully photographed by Lowell A. Meyer (who collaborated with Shyamalan on “Servant” and “Knock at the Cabin”) and filmed in Shreveport, Louisiana. There are scenes that represent droughts and floods, and however they’re filmed and presented really matches the mood and tone of the film.
Husband and wife filmmakers Logan George and Celine Held (whose previous Shyamalan entry was a few episodes of “Servant”) have an intriguing concept that really has us in question at the end of the film, but they don’t have the kind of story to elevate on that. They need to do a lot more than have characters argue and go through the same formulas. It ends up getting us lost and confused.
I needed time to process my emotions on “Caddo Lake” for all the positive and negative things I’ve mentioned. Even though it looks great and has fresh leads, I still can’t really recommend it for the directions they start to take. Not a very good year for Shyamalan, whether he directs or just produces, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to get the same comments: “What did you expect?.”And I’m also sure you’re eager to know what the twists are this time. And even though I’m not a fan of the overall movie, at least, they’re more interesting than “The Watchers” or “Trap.” Or maybe you’ll think they’re just as silly. This is the part where you want me to stop talking.
Streaming on Max
