Director: Trey Edward Shults
Writer: Trey Edward Shults (Screenplay)
Starring: Kelvin Harrison Jr, Lucas Hedges, Taylor Russell, Alexa Demie, Renee Elisa Goldsberry
Plot: Traces the journey of a suburban family – led by a well-intentioned but domineering father – as they navigate love, forgiveness, and coming together in the aftermath of a loss.
Runtime: 2 Hours 15 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Waves starts as we meet Tyler (Harrison Jr) who has been training in high school wrestling for his whole life, he has a girlfriend in Alexis (Demie) who completes him, with his overbearing father Ronald (Brown) pushing him to be his best.
When Tyler learns he has a suffered a potential career ending injury, his life starts to spiral out of control, with his girlfriend tell him she is pregnant and dumping how, Tyler continues to spiral out of control, pushing everyone away from him, causing an effect on his little sister Emily (Russell).
Thoughts on Waves
Characters – Tyler is one of the star athletes in the high school, he is going to head to college, got a beautiful girlfriend, with his life looking set for him, his life comes crashing down when he gets inured and his girlfriend gets pregnant, he simply can’t handle the changes, which see him make mistake after mistake. Emily is the younger sister of Tyler, she is left in the shadow of what happened with Tyler, filled with guilt and trying to find a way out of the place she has found herself feeling trapped, trying to live her own life. Luke is the classmate that comes into Emily’s life, he helps her come out of her pain, showing her the best part of life, while having his own pain in his life.
Performances – Kelvin Harrison Jr and Taylor Russell give us outstanding performances with each taking center stage through different parts of the film, with the supporting cast shining though too.
Story – The story here follows the lives of two siblings, one who spirals out of control, while the other is living in the shadow of the consequences of what happened. This is a story that will hit hard showing the cause and effect of what would happen in life if somebody spiralled too far out of control and someone else would need to break out of the shadow of that image. Splitting the movie into two parts, does help show just how they are changing through life and what happened.
Settings – The film uses the settings to show us how the everyday life can be turned upside by what happens, not location is unique, but only important to show things can happen.
Scene of the Movie – Luke and Emily’s road trip.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The spinning camerawork.
Final Thoughts – Waves is a brilliant story showing us just how life can spiral out of control suddenly, with power house performances from Kelvin Harrison Jr and Taylor Russell.