Directed By Trey Edward Shults

Starring – Taylor Russell, Kelvin Harrison Jr, Alexa Demie

The Plot – Set against the vibrant landscape of South Florida, and featuring an astonishing ensemble of award-winning actors and breakouts alike, “Waves” traces the epic emotional journey of a suburban African-American family, led by a well-intentional but domineering father (Sterling K. Brown), as they navigate love, forgiveness and coming together in the aftermath of a loss.

Rated R for adult language throughout, drug and alcohol use, some sexual content and brief violence-all involving teens

POSITIVES

– Energetic shot composition. Part of what allows this movie to stand out from its opposition is the experimenting with the camera work that allows it to immerse itself as a character within the heat of every scene. Revolving slow pan takes allows us to absorb even the smallest detail of what’s depicted, daring us to look away from the characters inside for even a single second, as they slowly move out of focus. In addition to this, the conjuring of feeling during scenes like a wrestling meet gives way to a rough, rigid proximity that captures the feeling of what our protagonist goes through. This gives the film an immersive quality that transfers itself from being just one of the fray, that I previously mentioned, and puts us in the shoes of the one who dominates the attention, feeling so tense at times that I swore I felt a bead of sweat drop from my forehead.

– Transfixing presentation. Aside from the exceptional camera work that elevated my investment into the narrative, the command over color filters and aspect ratios conjured up an experience that was beautifully hypnotic with emotional shaping. When the film begins and our family is one cohesive unit, we are treated to a near-neon hallucinogenic encompassing from the pinks and blues of a skyline that follows our characters everywhere. When the drama kicks in, the film changes up its color choices in favor of a pallet that is bleak and lacking of the same dreamy quality that was featured so heavily in the previous first act. Likewise, the aspect ratios for the film split time between a 1:85.1 to accentuate comfort within this family, a 1:33.1 to signify one character’s world crumbling around them, and a 1:56.1 to convey a building block of positivity. Twerking these aspects of production is just one of the many controls that Shults has his finger on constantly, signifying in textures and vantage points what emits so soundly from the blend of emotional environments that overtakes everything.

– Surprises. “Waves” is a film that is better left ambiguous for what little information you learn about it in a trailer that is wonderfully put together for how little it gives away. In viewing it, I felt this was going to be a black coming-of-age story, and that couldn’t be further from the truth. What I got was a surreal deconstruction of an American family, full of angst, grief, and longing that is resounding in every shot. There were times that I may have known something was going to happen, but never the full extent of the mayhem, which constantly envelopes the demeanor of a scene like an inescapably wet blanket of sorrow. In this regard, “Waves” might not be the most enjoyable film of 2019, but its material will certainly stick with you, and constantly keep you guessing during a movie that articulately captures the spontaneity of all that life throws at us.

– The locations. There’s a hedonistic vibe from Shults shooting another of his films in the upper class cultures of Miami, Florida, but what it does for this film in particular alludes to the gifts that many youths unfortunately take for granted. To be born here means to be born into a life of privilege. This cements a frame of mind where kids, although not entirely disrespectful, do test the limits of the law in a way that practically mirrors the high stakes surrounding them that they constantly risk with. On a visual summary, there isn’t a film with a more vibrantly beautiful shooting location in 2019, but looks are deceiving when you combine accessible drugs with the negative allure of social media surfing while under the influence, and it all adds layers of proof to the ages old theory that bad things do in fact happen behind picket fences.

– Superb direction. I’m not fully experienced in Shults’ complete filmography as a feature length director, but his amplification of tension, as well as value for family that he instills upon the picture proves that he isn’t afraid to juggle heavy themes with a presentation that is second to none. Between filling a scene with as much anxiety as a Safdie Brothers flick, or using dramatically long takes during scenes of uncomfortable character vulnerability, Trey bottles as much about real life experience to his film that can be as limited as one character’s thoughts, or as expansive as two characters’ roads playing off one another simultaneously, despite being in two completely different places during the same timeline. This is a director who is every bit ambitious as he is precise in his movements, giving “Waves” the perfect captain to navigate us through some of the rumbling tumbling waters of life that our characters dive head first into.

– Music as a weapon. Is there nothing that composers Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor can’t do to elevate any kind of project that they take on? My surprise isn’t that they deliver constantly in bottling an unnerving menace that frequently eats away at our characters’ sub-conscience, but that their ominously persistent tones of panic play so profoundly off of the hip-hop dominated soundtrack that we hear so abrasively. Reznor, who himself is the lead singer of acclaimed rock band Nine Inch Nails, has made a name for himself with some of the most seethingly-scintillating scores of the twenty-first century, and this one is no different. Ross and Reznor take over the audibility of the film most obviously when the big event happens at the beginning of the second act, supplanting tragedy in stirring piano keys and echoing sound mixing that produces a haunting that we simply can’t rid ourselves of. I’ve always wanted to see what these two could do in a horror film, but as it stands I will pleasantly indulge in another chance to immerse myself in musical accommodation that is unsettling the longer it repeats.

– Natural storytelling. This will undoubtedly test some audiences, as the dispersing of excitement is few and far between a screenplay that is more interested in capturing the essence of life. This is a 130 minute movie, and while that may sound like a lengthy investment to impatient audiences, the pacing never bothered me in the slightest because this screenplay’s transcendence of a movie to echo our movements and developments so seamlessly kept me constantly engaged, even during parts of the film that felt like an obvious decrease in quality. More on that later. This isn’t a dramatic deposit every ten minutes, but a series of high’s, low’s, and in-between’s in the lives of this testing family that remains strained to stay together instead of crumbling at the seams. Because of that, I can appreciate those down moments of breath that would otherwise lessen the impact of so many tense moments being stuffed together one after the other.

– Sink or swim. This film could easily fall under the weight of its crushing dramatic ambition if not lifted by the attention-stealing magnetism of this exceptionally gifted cast who give us plenty to praise. Harrison’s second starring role of 2019 brings forth a raw, riveting side of teenage angst that properly channels what it feels like to lose one wall of comfort one piece at a time. In addition to him, Lucas Hedges pops up with enough neurotics and mental imbalance to make this feel unlike anything that he has portrayed to this point in his career. For the female side, Taylor Russell escapes the clutches of “Escape Room” earlier this year, and proves that her dramatic chops are some of her finest qualities. Aside from crying on command, this young actress dazzled me with an emotional complexity that slowly becomes unraveled the more she gets closer to a romantic interest. Finally, the show-stealer for me was Sterling K. Brown as an anxiously hands-on father whose constant pushing can sometimes lead to a compromising effect on his children. Brown’s physical transformation is impressive enough, considering he’s showing off a chizled physique that we never knew was there in the first place, but it’s the vulnerability in losing a family that unglues him in a way that brings forth some of the most convincing trauma to a character that I have seen in quite some time.

NEGATIVES

– Tale of two halves. There are some questionable decisions made during the film’s second half that really deteriorated this being one of the very best films of the year for me personally. The first is our abandoning of who we knew as the main character to this point. The movie seems to distance itself from them during the time when more focus could flesh out an intriguing road-to-redemption narrative that could uplift it from the depths of depression that saddles the movie. Beyond this, it springs forth a new direction with characters, who up until now were nothing but an afterthought. This emerging plot does have some elements of beneficial gain during its on-screen dominance, but I couldn’t escape the voice in my head that was constantly screaming for the better movie that was materializing somewhere off in the distance.

– Missed opportunities. “Waves” completely voids itself the opportunity to explore some meaty poignancy in the form of materializing subplots that are brought up, then never fully elaborated on. The obvious is toxic masculinity playing a heavy hand on the progress of a boy fighting to become a man. This more than anything should be explored as a root cause for all of this trouble, but it’s not alone in that regard. Likewise, the film also isn’t brilliant enough to capitalize on the parallel created between two young men of the same age, as a result of this ensuing chaos. In focusing this on a dual-narrative instead of the limited attention we’re given, we could receive some stark contrast and social commentary between two similarly-jaded characters whose only distinguishing feature is their ethnic diversity. The uniqueness of this opportunity practically brings me to tears, and leaves “Waves” as just a good movie, when it had every right to be great.

My Grade: 8/10 or B