Jennifer Lawrence’s sole outing this year is Causeway, which comes from first-time director Lila Neugebauer. The A24 and Apple TV+ production, which premiered at TIFF to fairly strong acclaim, follows the actor as Lynsey, a military engineer who has returned to the States from Afghanistan with a debilitating brain injury after an IED explosion. Also starring Brian Tyree Henry, Jayne Houdyshell, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Linda Emond, the first trailer has landed ahead of a release next month.
C.J. Prince said in his review, “It comes as a bit of a surprise to see how jarring Jennifer Lawrence’s presence is in Causeway, her new film directed by first-time filmmaker Lila Neugebauer. A subdued character drama about a soldier recovering back home after suffering a brain injury in Afghanistan, it marks both Lawrence’s return to playing a central character since 2018’s Red Sparrow (unless you want to count her part in 2021’s ensemble Don’t Look Up) and her most grounded role in an even longer time. Go back to the mid-2010s and you’ll find her playing a Russian spy, a mutant superhero, a metaphor for mother nature, and (scariest of all) trapped in outer space with Chris Pratt, which might explain why it takes some adjusting to see her as a regular person trying to rebuild themselves. It’s a welcome and savvy move: Causeway serves as a reminder of her strengths, which rise above the lackluster material she’s working with.”
See the trailer below.
Causeway hits theaters and Apple TV+ on November 4.