Caddo Lake Movie Review

Caddo Lake (2024)

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Written by: Celine Held  & Logan George
Directed by: Logan George, Celine Held
Starring: Dylan O'Brien, Eliza Scanlen, Caroline Falk, Lauren Ambrose
Rated: PG-13
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Plot
When an eight-year-old girl disappears on Caddo Lake, a series of past deaths and disappearances begin to link together, altering a broken family's history.

Verdict
This is a fun and twisting adventure; a parallel journey for two characters. You do need to pay attention, as we're putting the pieces together as we go, but this movie doesn't fall into the trap of trying to explain too much. Many movies try only to undermine the story. This doesn't, focusing on the plot and the relationship between two characters. It becomes science fiction, and to say more would only begin to spoil it, but all of these characters share a connection predicated by Caddo Lake.
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Review
We're introduced to a number of hard luck characters living on a Texas bayou. The main characters are Paris (Dylan O'Brien) and Ellie (Eliza Scanlen). Paris is still mourning his mother's death and works dredging the bayou. Ellie is a teen looking to make her own way by distancing herself from her parents.

Dylan O'Brien plays Paris

The water level in the bayou is low which makes getting around difficult but also uncovers a lot of debris. While dredging, Paris experiences a distortion. He can't explain it, but it's some kind of invisible wall he breaches. He also finds a necklace that looks like one we've seen before. Does this necklace connect Paris and Ellie's mothers?

This bayou is just a weird place, and we're getting an idea of what the distortion Paris experienced might be. He and Ellie both accidentally discover it which complicates things. I wondered why this bayou and why now? It's a neat movie with a lot of questions about how, but that's the point. It's not about the how or why, it's the journey.

Eliza Scanlen plays Ellie

Ellie's step sister Anna goes missing. Ellie searches for her and finds a connection to Paris while Paris inadvertently finds Anna. There's not much you can say about this movie without getting into spoilers. It's a wild trip for these two characters that live in the same town. They leave the town and try desperately to get back.

This does a great job of connecting the dots in a twisting plot. One thing this does right is not trying to explain too much. Plenty of movies try to explain the unexplainable and needlessly bloat the plot and never get near a satisfying answer. With this movie, it's about two parallel journeys that connect and redefine how all of these characters are connected. This doesn't try to explain anything, and while we may want answers it would never be sufficient.