Film Review: Waves Redefines Suspense Through Family
I can honestly say two things about Trey Edward Shults’ Waves: it is one of the best films I have ever seen and the most intense. My blood pressure practically boiled in my veins as if Shults’ had turned up the heat to my potted emotions. The audience was his water, and he was going to show them that there is no need for great, big action thrillers edging you off your seat, when the All-American family is stressful enough.
Waves can be described as a two-act film. The first act focusing on Kelvin Harrison Jr.’s Tyler. Kelvin is one of the best actors around. If his performance in Luce was near perfection, his role as Tyler helps him achieve it. He plays the young jock, with all the world area of him, as a self-loathing charmer: a good boy with a horrendous temper. For Tyler, there is an emotional switch that he cannot control that makes him going from absolutely loving to terrifying. Seeing that switch get more and more flipped, while he loses all sense of hope and self control is absolutely gutting, especially because of Shults’ stunning cinematography.
Waves | Official Trailer HD | A24
Every image in this film could be sold like a painting of art. It is colorful, vibrant, and amplifying of the ensuing tragedy that will rip each character you see apart. Shults’ build suspense in his film through his camera work and a soundtrack that is literally dedicated to Frank Ocean fans. He treats sound and image like a psychologist; seeing them as vibes and mood changers. Hence, the film shifts as it focuses on the sweet Emily (played graciously by Taylor Russell.)
Harrison’s Tyler is a slow, burning crash on how a young man can lose all his promise, Russell’s role as Emily is how a young woman can rebels it. She give Emily unwavering kindness and nobility, which makes her love story with the equally sweet and hilariously nerdy Lucas Hedges’ Luke so refreshing. In the first act, our witness of love is through Tyler and Alexa Demie’s strong-willed Alexis. Her and Tyler are like two rockets headed for each other; singing away the good they could have for themselves, separately. Demie’s role as Alexis is impactful, and makes her feel like ghost lingering throughout the film when not seen. Hence, the juxtaposition of Tyler and Alexis with Luke and Emily is perfect in displaying young love can beautiful or brutal.
Rounding out the performances are Renée Elise Goldsberry’s heart-breaking turn as Tyler and Emily’s mom, Catharine, and Sterling K Brown as the polar opposite of our beloved Randall. Brown’s role as Emily and Luke’s father, Ronald, proves vital in showing how a parent really does mold their child’s future but now in how they push them to choose as much as how they push them to feel. He is casually cruel and harsh; driving Tyler to madness with the righteousness of a parent that believes abuse is “shaping” a person. It is for this reason Brown’s performance stands out, and makes you gasp in fear out how much Ronald can devastate his family. Ultimately, each character, along with each viewer, goes through so many emotional waves that you understand title. Life is an up and down ride, but rarely does a film come along that is powerful and gorgeous enough to portray it, Waves comes out in theater on November 15.
