Causeway           4 stars

I viewed another Oscar Nominated performance in Causeway, the recent movie by director Lila Neugebauer available on Apple tv+. This low budget drama stars Jennifer Lawrence (of The Hunger Games fame) as Lynsey, a soldier recently returned from duty in Afghanistan after suffering a brain injury in an IED attack. At first the movie is about her rehabilitation in New Orleans, seeing doctors and caregivers and going through physical therapy and the frustration  of trying to regain physical function. But it is also about her forming a bond with James (Brian Tyree Henry of Atlanta), a local Black auto mechanic who has suffered his own trauma (though not war related) who sees someone suffering and is in need of a friend. Lynsey also has her mother, but she is very self-centered and of little use in Lynsey’s recovery. The two find that despite their widely different backgrounds there is a connection between them though it gets a bit rocky along the way. It’s a straightforward story without complicating flashbacks that owes a lot to the great acting skills of Lawrence and Henry. Brian Tyree Henry is honored with a deserved Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.