'Waves' A Review

Waves is a family drama about a suburban family in southern Florida navigating the pressures and pains of modern life. The first half of the film focuses on the prodigal son Tyler(Kelvin Harrison Jr.) as he attempts to deal with his well meaning but overbearing father Ronald(Sterling K. Brown), a serious injury that derails his burgeoning wrestling career, and an unexpected pregnancy with his girlfriend Alexis(Alexa Demie). In the second half of the film the focus shifts to Ronald and stepmother Catherine's(Renée Elise Goldsberry) daughter Emily(Taylor Russell) as she attempts to carve out a life and identity outside the shadow of her brother.

Both Harrison and Russell give nuanced, complicated, and emotionally thrilling performances. Harrison is the more frenetic and mercurial, his character's story the more panicked and anxiety inducing. Russell is the more subdued and measured, the more melancholic and reflective. Yet both are able to effortlessly hold the camera and convey some powerful honesty. And their performance together really center the film, even though they really only have one scene together- and incredibly brutal by honest scene in their shared bathroom. The rest of the cast is less consistent but to be fair they have less to work with. For the most part Brown an Goldsberry do well as the parents but they never really reach the mark of fully flushed out characters, perhaps this is deliberate because we are viewing them from their children's perspective. Demie and later Lucas Hedges(as Emily's love interest) also do well enough but the focus is primarily on Harrison and Russell and the ambitious production design.

The camera work and color in the film are gorgeous and transportive. With 360 degree pans, tight close ups, and a lot of hand-held sequences we effectively feel we are inside the heads of Tyler and Emily, we feel what they feel, at times the film is more tone poem than narrative. Which can be disconcerting and probably isn't for everyone. But it is unique and it works to convey feeling and story above and beyond pages and pages of dialogue. Which, again, may not be for everyone but is incredibly effective. The pulsing, at times cacophonous score can be overwhelming but pairs beautifully with the cinematography to create a mood and feeling in world that the characters live in and are confined by.

Beautifully shot and emotionally electric. Full of heartbreak and hope. A startling ambition that fails big but succeeds big too.

See It.