Waves (2019)
dir. Trey Edward Shults
Rated: R
image: ©2019 A24
As with the work of Barry Jenkins (Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk) and Sean Baker (The Florida Project), director Trey Edward Shults has crafted one of the most touching, humanist films of its release year. Waves is a moving, tender, horrifying, human drama that showcases both the best and worst inclinations of our species. And, like the work of Terrence Malick, a mentor of Shults – he served in various capacities on three of Malick’s films – Waves has a lyrical poetry to it that elevates the picture above your average family drama (or melodrama). Shults’ sensibilities combine with a knock-out ensemble cast and an unsettling score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross to make Waves one of the best films of the year.
This is the story of the Williams family. Domineering father Ronald is tough on his kids (specifically his son, Tyler), but only because he knows how unfair the world can be, especially for black Americans like himself and his children. Tyler’s sister, Emily, is quiet, going all but unnoticed by her father. The pair of siblings are doted on by their stepmother, Catherine.
The first half of the film focuses on Tyler, as he struggles to meet his father’s demanding expectations of his high-school wrestling career and deals with a surprise announcement from his girlfriend, Alexis. Still, the film opens with an ecstatic sequence showing Tyler cruising down the road with friends, blasting music as they enjoy the endless possibilities that youth promises. There is an exuberance to Shults’ camerawork in the opening minutes of the film – the camera pans around and around in an endless circle in the car, and moves with a kinetic energy as it follows Tyler into his house – that matches the characters he’s following.
Things start to unravel for Tyler when a doctor visit for the shoulder injury he’s been hiding from his dad – it’s just been bothering him a little, he insists – reveals a much more serious problem than even Tyler suspected. He attempts to push through the discomfort, with the help of surreptitiously obtained pain pills from Ronald’s medicine cabinet.
This is where Shults lets his characters’ actions explore bigger themes of what troubles our society. The movie never explicitly expresses it, but we see the toll hypermasculinity can take on men as Ronald pushes his son to be stronger and tougher. The same sentiments are echoed in Tyler’s wrestling coach’s pre-competition speeches.
That same critique of our culture’s ideals about masculinity – where the only acceptable emotion for men to display is anger – is at play when Tyler reacts as he does to Alexis’s announcement that she’s pregnant, and that she wants to keep the baby. The hate that the two young people experience from protesters outside an abortion clinic also serves to show how awful and judgmental we humans can be to each other.
All these pressures on Tyler culminate into tragedy during a house party following a school dance. The sequence that Shults and editor Isaac Hagy – the two share an editing credit on the film – conjure for the events of that night and leading to its aftermath elevate the movie to the ethereal. The dark of the night, contrasted with the strobing lights of police cars, as well as the formalistic touch of adding shots of pastel colors to the screen, have the effect of plunging us into a dream state. It’s an evocative bit of filmmaking made more powerful when seen in a theatrical setting.
And that’s just the first half of the movie.
For the second half, Waves shifts its focus to the character we’ve barely noticed up until now. Tyler’s sister, the quiet, unassuming Emily, takes center stage as she deals with the fallout of her brother’s actions. One of the most miraculous things about the movie is that Shults also pulls off a shift in tone that completely differs from the first half. While still a drama, there are moments of levity and sweet romance as one of Emily’s classmates, Luke, asks her out on a date.
The outstanding performances in Waves, along with Shults’s artistic choices, help to elevate the movie into something special. Sterling K. Brown brings his formidable talents to bear as Ronald. Brown makes Ronald emotionally impenetrable as the strict disciplinarian early in the film, but the actor is able to give his character new dimensions as Ronald shows vulnerability to Emily in the second half.
Kelvin Harrison Jr., who worked with Shults in his 2017 film It Comes at Night, creates a layered character with Tyler. Pain, anger, frustration, and fear are all on display in Harrison Jr.’s performance.
Renée Elise Goldsberry, who originated the role of Angelica Schuyler in the Broadway phenomenon Hamilton, is very good as determined peace-keeper Catherine. She has a powerful scene with Brown as their characters fight over their deteriorating marriage, but I wish Goldsberry was given just a little more to do.
As in his breakout performance in Manchester by the Sea, Lucas Hedges, as Luke, is fragile, funny, and vulnerable in Waves.
Among such a strong ensemble, actor Taylor Russell stands out for her work as Emily. She manages to pull off being a wall-flower during the first half of the film, playing support for Lucas Hedges during his arc, and also never letting us forget Emily’s own emotional struggles having to do with her family. The scene I mentioned earlier, between Ronald and Emily, gives Russell the opportunity to display raw emotion, and she absolutely nails it.
If the first half of Waves documents the worst instincts to which humans are inclined, the second half showcases our best. Emily and Luke’s budding romance leads to a relationship-defining moment as the two confront forgiveness and mortality in the form of one of Luke’s family members.
In addition to that, the film also takes time to show these kids just being kids. Shults incorporates that lyrical quality, akin to something you would see in a Terrence Malick film, during these moments as the film blossoms into a celebration of life and young love.
Waves just about runs the gamut of human emotion and action. Trey Edward Shults manages to give us all this without his film ever devolving into schmaltz or melodrama. If an alien came down from the stars and asked to see one movie that perfectly summed up the human experience – because, obviously, a technologically advanced extraterrestrial species would know about the greatest art form ever created –Waves would be a fine pick.
Why it got 4.5 stars:
- Waves is a deeply moving humanist drama. Shults is interested in people, and how we all connect to one another. His movie shows both the ugliness and transcendence of the human experience.
Things I forgot to mention in my review, because, well, I'm the Forgetful Film Critic:
- I got the opportunity to interview Trey Edward Shults in anticipation of the Dallas release of Waves. We had a brief but very enjoyable conversation about Shults’s preoccupations when it comes to the themes of his movies and his filmmaking process. A day after this review goes live, I will post the interview in podcast form, as well as a transcript of the interview. Be on the lookout for it.
- Waves spends about 30 seconds focusing on the security guard of an abortion clinic. It’s a great little moment, and that security guard is one of the unsung heroes of the movie.
- This is a film that absolutely benefits from a theatrical screening experience. There is a party scene with a strobing light effect that put me in mind of a similar scene from Alejandro González Iñárritu’s 2006 film Babel. Both scenes are visually arresting.
- I spoke with Shults about this in the interview, but I didn’t mention in the review the changing aspect ratios throughout the film. It’s a great technique to focus the audience’s attention to changes in the tone of the story, and Shults loves to play with aspect ratios in his films.
Close encounters with people in movie theaters:
- This was a press-only screening, so, as usual, I didn’t get a clear read from anyone after the movie ended.