Directed by: Trey Edward Shults
Run-time: 135 minutes
If you’re anything like me, you feel compelled to see movies based on the talent involved without knowing anything about the plot. Writer-director Trey Edward Schults defied the horror genre with 2017’s It Comes At Night, an effectively-disturbing film that didn’t get a lot of attention (probably because it didn’t have the audience-friendly flavour of Get Out that year). With his third film Waves, Schults tells a different kind of story. Waves is a poignant family drama that leaves an emotional impact, even if it isn’t comfortable viewing.
Waves is broken into two parts, focusing on two African-American siblings – Tyler Williams (Kelvin Harrison Jr) and his younger sister Emily (Taylor Russell). Tyler seems like a well-adjusted teenager living in Florida. He’s one of the popular high school seniors on the wrestling team. Outside school, he parties with his friends and hangs out his girlfriend, but he is routinely pushed by this well-meaning yet demanding father, Ronald (Sterling K. Brown). Ronald and Tyler train together to stay in shape, but before and after wrestling matches, Ronald never misses an opportunity to condemn Tyler for doing anything that doesn’t concern athletics or school. Ronald places so much pressure on Tyler to excel because, as he explains in an earlier scene, black men need to work ten times harder than their white counterparts (“We are not afforded the luxury of being average”). Tyler finds out he suffers from a serious case of shoulder tear. Against his doctor’s recommendation, he continues to wrestle competitively and hides his injury from home and school, until one match causes irreparable damage and ends his career.
The first half centres on Tyler’s descent into emotional hell with alcohol and painkillers and the second half abruptly shifts perspective. In the “Emily sequence”, the Williams are grieving in the aftermath of their son and brother’s meltdown. The shy and introverted Emily finds courage when she forms an unexpected yet genuine romance with Tyler’s goofy, white teammate Luke (Lucas Hedges). Meanwhile, she feels estranged from Ronald, who is grappling with guilt over Tyler’s downfall.
It is really tough to discuss Waves without spoiling the surprises the plot has in store. As you are reading this review, you may think the movie’s focus-turn from Tyler to Emily is strange. Tyler’s emotional-professional downfall and Emily’s romantic journey are tonally-different movies, bridged by a tragic event that you don’t expect in the halfway point. However, without going into detail, both chapters are linked by the themes of fathers and sons, young love and familial reconciliation. Life for the Williams, or any family in real life, doesn’t end on a high or low point. They are continually rebuilding themselves.
Waves is riveting – brutal, but compelling. Schults knows how to put viewers into the characters’ personal space in a way that is both beautiful and scary (similar to life as a teenager). With an electrifying score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (The Social Network, Gone Girl) and Andrew Daniels’ visually-striking camerawork (the are so many car interiors shot in the 360), this is a psychologically-immersive movie.
Emotionally and thematically, Waves explores universal themes such as first love, generational conflicts, fear of disappointment, guilt and forgiveness. Shults’ human and energetic direction, paired with strong performances from the entire cast, make this one of the best dramas of the year.
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