Waves (2019) is an incredibly written, directed, and produced film that today’s high school students should consider revisiting or exploring for the first time. Written by Trey Edwards Shults and released to critical acclaim at the Telluride Film Festival, Waves went on to receive positive reviews with its official theater release in November 2019. With its star performances, compelling storyline, and strong soundtrack, Waves is as powerful today as it was back then.
The story follows a young black man named Tyler Williams (played by Kelvin Harrison Jr. ). His life is shown to be fast-paced and perfect. He’s in what seems to be a long-term romantic relationship with his girlfriend, Alexis (played by Alexa Demie). He is working towards a wrestling scholarship, attends church every Sunday, practices piano, and works at his father’s construction site.
His father, Ronald Williams (played by Sterling K. Brown ), plays a big role in Tyler’s motivation. Ronald constantly reminds Tyler that they can not afford the luxury of being average, as a Black man in today’s society. Because of this Ronald pushes Tyler to, at some points, the extreme when it comes to training for his wrestling team and his education. After Tyler visits his doctor about his recurring shoulder pain, we learn that he is in need of surgery, and he is no longer able to continue wrestling.
Then we are introduced to Tyler’s sister, Emily (played by Taylor Russell). Emily’s life seemed to be the exact opposite of Tyler’s; hers is slower, quiet, peaceful, but still equally heartbreaking. We follow Emily as she deals with her family issues and navigating around ideas of making friends and finding love. She meets Luke (played by Lucas Hedges ) at her school, and they both go on adventures not knowing they are secretly helping and healing one another.
One thing this movie did an incredible job on was portraying the idea that life is really just riding a wave. Director Trey Edward Shults takes us on this captivating emotional rollercoaster filled with a handful of ups and downs. He was able to portray this change in emotion through his beautiful cinematography.
You will be hit with vibrant colors and wholesome scenes, but these are soon followed by dark, heartbreaking scenes and then a return to heartwarming scenes filled with dreamy lighting and calming music. The cinematography made it so much easier for me to fall in love with this movie as it brought out so many different reactions from me, most of which were tears.
I appreciated the way the movie is structured as two parts. Halfway through the movie you can sense a shift in direction and focus as the storyline begins to center more on Emily’s life. You, in a sense, get to experience an entirely new movie. Getting to see another point of view helps viewers understand the characters on a deeper level as we are able to find empathy for these characters and the decisions they make.
The music choice was a big part of the reason why this movie is so well made. Each song played was intentional. The music was a collection of different artists and genres equivalent to the mood of the scene. When a song was included in a scene, you could easily see the significance it played in the character’s attempt at self expression. At some points during the movie the music spoke louder to me than the characters actions or words.
Lastly, Shults wrote incredible characters, each with a balance of complexity and simplicity. He makes these characters so raw and human, yet they are not considered shallow or mundane. Their conversations are able to flow naturally and is entirely believable.
Even though Waves was made over three years ago, it is still relevant to many people today because it touches on subjects with which many men, especially Black men, struggle. For instance, Ronald (Tyler’s dad) is a great example of the negative effects of toxic masculinity, and yet he never coming to terms with it. Because Ronald grew up with the mindset of needing to go above and beyond just to be acknowledged and never allowed anyone to see him in a “moment of weakness,” he did what he thought was best and taught it to his son. But as we know, Tyler struggled with this idea. Tyler is naturally extremely emotional and sensitive, but because of what his dad taught him, he thought he needed to suppress all his emotion until eventually it burst.
There has yet to be another movie that has made me feel so many emotions in one sitting like Waves did. It’s a movie that will leave you in awe and possibly in tears. It’s an incredibly captivating story with characters in which you’ll fall in love. I wholeheartedly recommend watching Waves.
