Caddo Lake was produced by M Night Shyamalan and like a lot of his work there are twists that make it hard to talk about without spoiling things. So first off I will say I generally was entertained by Caddo Lake but once its twists start playing themselves out, the film gets a little convoluted to the point where following it becomes a chore. I've appreciated mind breaking puzzle movies similar to this (Primer from 2004 is one of my favourite films) but this one didn't manage to hook me in to doing the work to make this as satisfying as it could be. Also so much of it feels based on coincidences that take us out of the film a bit. Having said that it remained enjoyable enough to finish through. I'm just not sure I'd be inclined to watch it again.
"Well" you say, "we're not all you Collin and don't rewatch films over and over." Fair point. However this is the sort of film that you might want to watch again once you've seen it once so you can piece together it's intricacies. My point is Caddo Lake's characters and situation just aren't compelling enough to make that a fun project. Perhaps someday I will and seeing the pieces come together might make it all the more satisfying. Perhaps not.
From here on out there are spoilers so be warned...
The titular Lake appears to have time bending properties that has, for some unspecified reason, targeted one particular family. The film follows two parallel stories, of a father and his daughter, although you don't know that when you're watching it, as they deal with moving through time and appearing in different moments in the family's history. There is a good idea here but I wish the film had done two things to make it really work; (1) explain why it appears to be just this family or at least suggest something for us to glean, and (2) help make the revelations of time travel and confirming each time feel more natural. Often I was struggling to keep up with when we were and how we know. Sometimes the characters seemed to "figure it out" a little too easily.
Time travel is hard to pull off in movies. As Austin Powers once said perhaps it's just better not to think about it too much (paraphrasing). Still it has to feel organic and sometimes Caddo Lake just felt a bit too convenient.
The run time also felt a little tight. I'm not sure the real emotional power resonated because we didn't have time to truly understand who the characters were to really care about the temporal Gordian Knot they were living. Still despite my nitpicking I still enjoyed it. It was just a little on the disposable side. That's fine but there was potential here that it really could have been a powerful little story.
Caddo Lake
Starring: Dylan O'Brien, Eliza Scanlen, Lauren Ambrose, Caroline Falk, Eric Lange, Sam Hennings
Writers/Directors: Celine Held, Logan George
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