Lewis B. Smedes once said, “Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember. We change the memory of our past into a hope for our future.”
“Caddo Lake” (2024), directed by Logan George and Celine Held and produced by M. Night Shyamalan, takes an interesting approach to address topics like medical neglect, PTSD, generational trauma and healing and shows the only thing between understanding and revelation is time.
Spoiler warning: Minor plot points ahead
The movie follows Paris (Dylan O’Brien) and Ellie (Eliza Scanlen) as they both investigate and discover the truth of mysteries plaguing the supernatural Caddo Lake. Viewers are introduced to Paris through the unfortunate 1999 car crash that took the life of his mother. The aftermath of the incident, including Paris’ trauma from the crash, is implicitly and explicitly displayed in the beginning. Paris advocates for his mother, not believing the medical diagnosis that resulted in the seizure that ended her life.
Simultaneously, viewers follow troubled teen Ellie in the present as she navigates her problematic relationship with her mother, Celeste. Through her 8-year-old sister, Anna, viewers learn there was a physical altercation between Ellie and Celeste. Ellie struggles with identifying with the family her mother made and shows her frustration with the lack of answers Celeste provides her.
After Anna disappears in Caddo Lake, the lives of Paris and Ellie intertwine. The entire story plays out in a series of twists, turns and time travel to uncover the truth of what happened to Ellie’s father and Paris’s mother. The story takes a very unique approach to handle the topic of anxiety and trauma, and the characters are the catalyst to the eventual event that causes their trauma or the catalyst directly and discover what truly happened.
“Caddo Lake” tells a beautiful story, allowing viewers to go on the journey of Paris finding closure, Ellie finding her familial identity and providing closure to Celeste about what happened to her father and Anna.
O’Brien and Scanlen’s emotional performances carry the plot of the film, giving realism to the dilemma, relief and healing these characters go through. Both of the film’s protagonists give a master class on how to convey a multitude of complex emotions with very few words. Viewers see the mix of heartache, love, gratitude and disbelief in Scanlen’s last scenes in the movie.
Matt Patches, writer for Polygon, talked about the many emotions connected to his viewing experience.
“Caddo Lake is an honest down-on-your-luck people drama,” Patches said. “Then, when Held and George pull back the curtain, it becomes a rewarding head-spinner.”
While the ending is bittersweet, the story is difficult to follow. The jumps between timelines make the chronology of the film hard to follow. It can be overstimulating to jump between three different timelines while also switching protagonists. However, it keeps viewers engaged and makes the twist at the end more impactful.
“The trudging path to get to this moment in Caddo Lake is hard to recommend: It’s wandering, surface-level, and in spite of all the moments where the actors pop, it isn’t terribly fresh,” Patches said.
The plot seems overused as well. There are dozens of movies about poor Southerners trying to rewrite the circumstances that made them. They go through dozens of trials and tribulations and somehow end up with a bittersweet ending that is reminiscent of “real life.”
The only new detail of the plot is its use of time travel, which leaves viewers with more questions than they came up with. Other than the identity of Ellie’s father, the true cause of Paris’ mother’s death or the location of Anna, many other details needed elaboration.
Celeste has been hinted to have abused Ellie, having two cases with Child Protective Services from when Ellie was little. When Ellie and Celeste leave the search team, Ellie asks Celeste if she hit Anna. Celeste replied, “You know I have never hit that girl.” However, Ellie shows hesitance regarding believing her.
The state of Ellie and Celeste’s relationship, the previous CPS cases and the incident causing Ellie to move out are never explained. The film leaves many questions, and the few answered questions are haphazardly tied together at the end.
“This viewer, who sees way too many movies that telegraph their obvious plot twists from the first few minutes, admires the narrative gamesmanship of ‘Caddo Lake,’ even if I’m pretty sure I couldn’t explain it without a pen and paper to chart it out,” Brian Tallerico, writer for Roger Ebert, said.
While this seems like an extreme opinion, it is agreeable. The movie does very little to provide a grappling story to its viewers. Quality acting should be a major part of a film’s storytelling and the writing of the story should match the quality of its acting.
“Caddo Lake” seemed very promising, with its star-studded cast alongside producer M. Night Shyamalan, but it is not for those who enjoy a straightforward film.
You should keep Advil near for the headache you will get from watching this beautifully acted, confusingly written movie.
Rating: 2.8/5
