You need to watch Waves - my spoiler-free review
So, I’ll be honest. I never heard of Waves until my girlfriend showed me a trailer.
The beautiful vagueness of the trailer, never giving away too much of the story, but immersing you in the kind of style and substance you can expect - topped off by the soundscape produced by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (the two reasons why The Social Network’s soundtrack is so bloody good), I was highly intrigued.
We went for a Saturday night screening at Nottingham’s Broadway cinema - a favourite of mine with chairs that don’t immediately make you want to fall asleep (like Showcase Cinema) and a way better audience than the shouting masses at Cineworld. After a pint at the bar, we headed down to experience Waves - with no knowledge of any reviews, ratings or opinions before hand.
Going in blind, and oh my God. We weren’t ready for it.
Let’s get the generic bit out the way to give you a little context - the story revolves around an African-American family, starting with the son Tyler in particular (played by Kelvin Harrison Jr). He is an incredibly talented high school student who tackles issues of his own over-inflated self confidence and an almost cult-esque level of toxic masculinity from his Dad.
Put simply, it’s a simple tale about how a series of bad decisions can wash over everyone around you like waves (see what I did there…), and how those affected people cope.
But it’s not told like a traditional story. Texan film-maker Trey Edward Shults doesn’t let the screen read to you, he creates an all-encompassing environment of intense sound and visual design to make sure you feel every moment.
From the broad strokes of incredibly stylised production values and anxiety-building crescendos to the big moments, to the smallest creative decisions like changing the aspect ratio of the film at times to demonstrate major shifts in the plot (something Trey picked up from his work on “It Comes at Night”). Every scene drips with purpose and effortless finesse, which works effectively to get under your skin from the very first second.
The acting talent on show here present fascinatingly real introspection of the parallels in one life - just because someone looks like they’re on top of the world on the outside, does not mean the world isn’t collapsing around them.
Sterling K Brown puts in a good performance as the stern Father who lets his drive to raise his son to be the best they can be overwhelm his parenting, but the real spotlight deserves to be on the son Tyler (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), his girlfriend Alexis (Alexa Demie) and his sister Emily (Taylor Russell). These three put on a true master class of conveying conflicting emotions, each in their own unique way that helps this film transcend the idea of good guys and bad guys. It becomes human, and these three are big reasons why Waves is so utterly incredible.
Even those moments that everyone seems to be putting in their films nowadays… You know, the “oh I’m going to stick my outstretched hand out the window and feel the breeze because this is going to communicate emotion to the viewer” kind of unnecessary clip. Anywhere else, it’s oh-so-pointless melodrama - an emotionless nod to the Instagram generation. But here, paired with the cavalcade of non-verbal storytelling, fantastic audio production and emotionally charged story that is woven into the very fabric of the movie, it feels effective.
There are many films out there that just happen to you, a play-by-play telling of a story that you just follow. But then along comes a rare gem that affects you - connects with you on a human level. You don’t leave the cinema discussing plot decisions, you leave in a near-pindrop silence as you try to take stock of what you just went through.
That’s Waves - a highly polished and stylish movie that keeps its emotional feet firmly planted on the ground, to show some real heart.
If this is the calibre of films we can expect in the 2020s, then we’re in for a really good decade.
