Waves

This is Trey Edward Shults' third major motion picture. His first was Krisha, which came out in 2015. I loved Krisha. If you haven't seen it, please do. Riveting family dysfunctional family drama playing out over Thanksgiving. Trey's next picture was It Comes At Night - a kind of post apocalyptic virus movie (perfect timing - just before COVID). I liked it, but not as much as Krisha. He set the bar high for himself and hit it on the second jump. Waves is his third movie and Trey went sailing clear over the bar. What's it all about? Imagine if Emilio Estevez's character in The Breakfast Club were black and his dad was portrayed by Sterling K. Brown (from This Is Us fame) and we were told the back story Andrew Clark, except it's Tyler Williams and the actor is Kelvin Harrison Jr. Tyler is on the high school wrestling team and his dad is pushing him to be the best. Tyler learns from his doctor that he has a severe injury in his shoulder and shouldn't be wrestling. Things go downhill from here.

The first half of Waves has a manic energy and a wild sense of urgency - the only thing I can compare it to is Uncut Gems. It's riveting stuff. Without spoiling the film, the second half of the movie deals with the fallout of Tyler's demise, about how his younger sister Emily (played by Canadian actor Taylor Russell) deals with what happened. She meets Luke (Lucas Hedges - this kid is a talent) and we watch their relationship unfold. Waves reminded me also of American Honey and to some extent Queen & Slim. There is a gritty realism to these films and something absolutely riveting about them to watch. Catch Waves on Amazon.