As the silver screen flickered and the lights dimmed, the audience settled in their seats, anxious for the moving picture to begin. However, no one could have been prepared for the heart-racing and leg-shaking-inducing story that would fill the next two hours of their existence. 

“Where the Crawdads Sing,” originally a 2018 Delia Owens novel, has recently been released as a 2022 major motion picture.

The film stars Daisy Edgar-Jones as the main protagonist, Kya Clark, an abandoned outcast of society who learned the way of life through her marsh. She meets two love interests, a shy fisherman’s son, Tate Walker (Taylor John Smith), and local heartthrob Chase Andrews (Harris Dickinson). Her relationship with Tate resembles the loving, caring, and healthy relationship everyone hopes for and deserves, while Kya’s relationship with Chase portrays the opposite. 

One day, Chase is found dead at the bottom of a fire tower. Kya’s shifty town presence, loner behavior, and past relationship with him causes others to believe that she murdered him. The film follows Kya’s court trial, accompanied by her past life experiences with her family, town, and romantic partners. 

Taylor Swift wrote the song, “Carolina,” to summarize the film’s plot. She includes lyrics such as, “[l]ost I was born, lonesome I came/Lonesome I’ll always stay…Why for years I roam/Free as these birds, light as whispers” to symbolize Kya’s lifestyle based on the novel’s description.  

It is also performed in a country folk ballad style, which is a common genre in North Carolina where the motion picture and novel take place.

The movie keeps the same timeline and topics as the book, including neglect, sexual assault, and self-image. 

Overall, it has been given a 4.7/5 star rating, 36% Rotten Tomatoes rating, and described as “one of the biggest hits of the summer” by Vogue. With its captivating storyline and plot twist of an ending, “Where the Crawdads Sing” is not a film to miss out on seeing. 

Some Pascack Hills students commented on the movie and novel. 

“The book was very captivating and touching. I have high hopes that the movie won’t disappoint,” said incoming senior Julianna Davino. 

Paige Geanopulos, an incoming sophomore, saw the film recently. 

“‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ is a perfect summer movie. By encapsulating the beauty of nature and all it has to offer, one truly feels inspired to go out and explore after seeing the film,” she said. 

As the movie came to a close, gasps fell from multiple members of the audience who were left wide-eyed in their seats as the credits began to roll. Walking out of the theater can have an odd feeling after returning from a journey out in the marsh, where the crawdads sing.