PLOT: A family is torn apart by a senseless act that has dire consequences for all involved.
REVIEW: Every film festival, there’s one movie that just gets all up in your guts and won’t let go. I remember once it was WHIPLASH, another time it was DRIVE and this year, by the end of its bravura opening shot, I knew WAVES was gonna be the one. Directed by Trey Edward Shults, whose IT COMES AT NIGHT was one of the more underrated films from the last few years, WAVES is a difficult film to describe. Imagine the propulsion and style of a Michael Mann crime thriller married to the intensity of Ari Aster’s HEREDITARY, but all done as a teen coming-of-age story, without any genre trappings whatsoever. It’s a description that, as unwieldy as it is, suggests an intense experience, and indeed, WAVES is just about the only film in recent memory where I can admit to almost suffering through a panic attack while watching it. That’s how invested I was.
It’s a film of two halves, each focusing on a sibling in an upper-class, African American family. The father is a driven entrepreneur, who drives his son to the pursuit of perfection in everything he does – to his ultimate detriment. Played by Sterling K. Brown, the father could have come off as a tyrant, but it’s clear from the start that, as misguided as what he’s doing may seem, he loves his kids and never quite crosses the line into abuse. The dynamic is expertly teed up right at the start when a playful arm-wrestling match between father and son starts to boil over into something a little more.
The son, Tyler, is the school golden boy. Played by Kelvin Harrison Jr., the character, in some ways, is similar to who he played in LUCE, being another teen with everything going for him – so it seems. He has a girlfriend (Alexa Demie) that he’s crazy about, and he’s the school’s top wrestler – with colleges from all over bound to come calling. All of that starts to go sideways when a shoulder injury starts to get more serious, while his girlfriend discovers she’s pregnant – and isn’t keen on an abortion. It all comes to ahead in anxiety-inducing fashion, with Shults using an ever-widening aspect ratio that’s like a vice closing in on him.
Suddenly, the focus shifts this his sister, played by Taylor Russell in what’s got to be the festival’s breakout performance. Up to this point, the film has been anxiety inducing horror show, like HEREDITARY without the supernatural element. Suddenly, the aspect ratio shifts to 1:33:1, and so does the whole tone of the film, turning into a gentle, touching romance between her and one of her brother’s old teammates, played by Lucas Hedges. We see her come into her own as his love begins to help her transform, while both troubled characters start to help each other, and their families, heal some very deep wounds. It’s a tonal shift that shouldn’t work, but work it does – and beautifully. This is an emotional rollercoaster, taking you right into the depths of despair and rage, but then allowing you to experience a real sense of healing and grace, expertly evoked by a director who’s hitting his stride and his amazing cast.
Certainly, this deserves to be A24’s big Oscar contender, with real award-caliber roles for Brown, Harrison, Russell, and Hedges. It’s accompanied by neon-lit cinematography by Drew Daniels, which makes this look unlike any other coming-of-age domestic drama you’ve seen before, while the score by Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor is among their finest, evoking both anxiety and dread, as well as a palpable sense of hope.
There aren’t enough ways to describes how affecting WAVES is as a film if you’re open to it, although, given the technique Shults is using, I imagine it’ll lose something at home, making a theatrical play for this one an absolute must. This isn’t one for streaming, and sure enough, it’s one of the very best films of the year.