Caddo Lake
A web of family trauma lurks beneath the waters of this twisting thriller
Dylan O'Brien sails into a mystery in Caddo Lake.
Ellie (Eliza Scanlen) has had a hard life. Growing up with an absent father and a resentful mother has made Ellie rebellious and quick to anger. The only person Ellie truly loves is her stepsister Anna (Caroline Falk). So when Anna goes missing on the waters of Caddo Lake, Ellie decides she must find her sister no matter what.
What Ellie doesn’t know is that Caddo Lake has a history of odd deaths and disappearances that have plagued the local community. Paris (Dylan O'Brien) is still searching for answers about what happened to his mother on the lake years ago.
Can Ellie find Anna before it’s too late? Can Paris discover why his mother seemed drawn to the lake?
This is a movie that’s best experienced with little to no knowledge. Truly, the less you know about the plot, the better. It becomes clear, around the 30-minute mark, why filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan was eager to produce this film — as the entire plot hinges on a series of increasingly ludicrous twists. The film might have been better served as a short, where narrative leaps and plot shorthand are a bit more excusable. As it stands, the film feels stretched thin, the plot fraying at the edges as it tries to reach feature length.
And while Caddo Lake is a serviceable enough thriller with compelling performances, the movie does rely on the element of surprise instead of developing its characters fully. In fact, if you think about the twist in the plot too much, you realize it’s essentially a riff on a Futurama gag.
While writers/directors Logan George and Celine Held have a script that’s more plotting tricks than development, they are interesting visual storytellers. They create color palettes that help the audience delineate plot threads and capture the eerie beauty of Caddo Lake. They also craft a believably labyrinthine collection of waterways in the lake. The area really does feel hard to parse and navigate. It’s easy to see how things can get lost to the mangroves and dilapidated buildings.
George and Held also pull some wonderful performances from their leads. Scanlen, in particular, gives a gut-wrenching performance as a wounded soul who loses the one person in the world she truly loves. It’s a raw performance, and one that speaks volumes about the power of buried trauma and sisterly love. Scanlen is more than ready to carry a film, and it’s exciting to see her develop into a leading lady.
If you love Shyamalan’s brand of gimmick-based filmmaking, Caddo Lake should entertain you. If you’re a fan of Futurama, you’ll probably have a good laugh at the grand reveal. Either way, it’s a decent way to spend a rainy Sunday.
Verdict: A serviceable, but ultimately thin thriller is bolstered by some strong performances.
Caddo Lake is rated PG-13 and is available on MAX.
