Waves
Trey Edward Shults is a tough nut to crack. His filmography so far has been diverse, to say the least, going from the contained character drama of Krisha, to the mystery/horror of It Comes at Night. He continues this trend of unpredictability with his latest feature-length effort, Waves, an Altman-esque story of a Miami family facing a steadily increasing spider web of problems.
The first thing that pops out about this film is the presentation. Shults is joining the likes of indie film darlings Barry Jenkins and Sean Baker in A24’s conquest to make Florida seem habitable, by capturing the beauty of the tropics through breathtaking cinematography and a relentlessly blue color palette. Waves captures Miami in a way that truly makes it feel like a paradise, which contrasts greatly with the hell these characters go through.
Another selling point the film is marketing is the “playlist” approach to the soundtrack, using the biggest names in hip hop, R&B, and indie rock to guide the audience through the various emotions and mental states of the characters. This kind of approach has a tendency to fall flat on its face if used incorrectly, resulting in a manipulation of emotions rather than a suggestion of them. Shults uses the music here correctly in that regard, but these musical moments are often followed visceral imagery accompanied by a matching score. An example would be somewhere around the halfway point, where we are at one of the character’s lowest points. He is angry, so we are treated to a riotous sequence featuring a beachside bonfire, complete with excessive drinking and dancing to the tune of Kendrick Lamar’s “Backseat Freestyle.” This is a moment that captures that anger so well, but that scene is then cut by a looming shot of the same character framed through the bonfire, staring in, projecting that anger to the tune of an ominous assortment of strings. This kind of musical redundancy happens throughout, resulting in a film that feels at ends with one of its primary concepts.
Presentation aside, the real strength of this movie comes from the characters, and how their various actions roll through others like (lord forgive me) waves. This is one of the strongest scripts of the year, backed up with some equally strong performances. The family archetype on display here is nothing short of the standard, but the depth in which these archetypes are explored, and the various ways that these characters both knowingly and unknowingly affect the others are the result of a script that has a very clear game plan for everyone in it. These characters feel genuine in both their strengths and weaknesses, and the way this conflict escalates throughout feels shocking at times, but even the most shocking of developments can be traced back to a conversation or moment that reveals that this was the plan all along. It’s a story with no real villains, just humans making mistakes, and the power that forgiveness and love have in remedying those mistakes. This is not the simple “love conquers hate,” story it appears to be, but a more layered approach to the kind of love needed to move on keep growing.
Waves is a film with heart, and despite its shortcomings, it never loses that sense of heart. It’s a moving, human experience that offers no easy answers or clear resolutions, but it’s earnestness both in front of and behind the camera offer a little something for everyone to enjoy.