'Waves' Review—Beautiful, Sad, and Shocking

For those of you asking if I'm gonna review The Mandalorian (which is nobody because I don't exactly have fans), I'm going to review it at the end of the season.

But for now, I have a new A24 drama that needs some reviewing.

Here we go!

Waves is a drama written and directed by Trey Edward Shults. The film is about a family experiencing love, anger, regret, and forgiveness in the wake of a tragic accident.

This film was... amazing. It told an incredible, tense story that I absolutely loved, and the performances were some of the best I've seen all year. It was very well-written and well-directed from the man who brought us It Comes at Night, and his work here is something to be seen.

One of my favorite aspects of the film is how original it is. In the past, we have seen a fair share of family dramas, but the places that this film takes its characters are gripping, and the way certain events and relationships play out feel incredibly realistic.

The lead character of the film is a high school wrestler portrayed by Kelvin Harrison, Jr., who I just discovered was also the star of the film, Luce, another one of my favorite dramas to come out this year.

Harrison's performance is nothing short of remarkable. He disappears in the role, making the audience feel sympathetic for him during certain scenes, but also incredibly frightened by him during certain scenes where his character loses his temper.

Everyone in the film gives an incredibly grounded, realistic performance where they really bring their characters to life, and the way these characters are written make them feel like real people, making it easy to forget that you're watching fictional events being portrayed by actors.

The standouts of the film are definitely Harrison and Taylor Russell, as these two have the most screen time and are given the most emotional beats, but Sterling K. Brown and Alexa Demie also give some very good performances in their supporting roles.

On another note, the soundtrack of this film is very praise-worthy, as every song complements its scene very well, and the cinematography by Drew Daniels is absolutely stunning.

I loved the first hour of the film because the film introduces us to Tyler, our main protagonist; we see his struggles along with the issues he's going through with his wrestling career, and as his life begins to crumble, he gets pushed into darker places and the tension builds and builds before reaching a breaking point.

He reaches this point halfway through the film, and this moment is by far the best part of the film. My jaw dropped, it was edited perfectly, and it was completely unexpected.

The issue I had with this, however, is that it felt as if the climax of the film took place halfway through. After this incredible scene, the film runs out of tension as it takes a narrative turn down another path which simply does not feel as interesting as the first half of the film.

It almost felt as if the film became a different movie halfway through because of the sudden shift in the story's focus, and there are not many scenes in the second half, which connect to the events of the first half, and this issue is largely what pushed the film back a little for me.

Additionally, it did not feel like all the characters had enough time. Most of the screen time and the development went to Tyler and his younger sister, Emily, and I feel like the relationship between the parents could have been explored a bit more, but they only get one or two scenes that depict their relationship.

Shults also made the directorial choice to have the aspect ratio change a few times during the film in order to show where the focus of the film is headed and how certain characters are feeling, and while I did appreciate the choice, it kind of took me out of the events of the film since it made me aware that a director was making these choices during the film.

But overall, this is a really good movie. It's gripping, it's suspenseful, and it's a very sad film as well. This film is very well-shot, realistically written, and the performances are fantastic.

I'm gonna give 'Waves' an 8/10 (B+).

I do recommend seeing this film when it comes to a theater near you. I live in New York, so I was able to see this in Lincoln Square, and I don't regret watching a film as great as this.

Thank you so much for reading.