Crashing - Waves
Trey Edward Shults is a talented filmmaker. There is a certain athleticism to what he is able to accomplish behind the camera. He has an agility that allows him to press buttons in as manipulative a fashion as possible. As a result, his films are able to wick the emotion out of their stories and put them right there on the surface. Whether or not you enjoy that sort of nakedly affecting filmmaking feels entirely subjective. But what is not subjective is that this could have been more.
The Williams family are upper middle class, Black and suffering from much of what ails America at large. At various times throughout the movie they must deal with prescription drugs, teen pregnancy, violence, racism, by-products of divorce and toxic masculinity. All the while, they are struggling just to remain a family. This is, in many ways, a fresh veneer on a series of PSAs.
Tyler (played by Kelvin Harrison Jr.) is a high school wrestler. He struggles with pressures to compete through injury and make his father proud in an arena he appreciates, sports. When his girlfriend, Alexis (played by Alexa Demie) gets pregnant, the pressures on Tyler are compounded. His father, Ronald (played by Sterling K. Brown) and his stepmother (played by Renee Elise Goldsberry of Hamilton fame), struggle to maintain some semblance of normalcy for their teenage daughter, Emily (played brilliantly by Taylor Russell) as the seams of their family are exposed and strained.
It is entirely possible that you will have an altogether enjoyable time at the movies watching Waves. However, it seems equally likely you will hate this. Shults, with all of his ability as an auteur, seems satisfied to put the audience in pain. Like a charismatic strongman content to use his powers of persuasion and physical domination to drown you. And this would all be forgivable if it was in service of a story that hung together. But it is not. The film is best described as a series of lose events masquerading as plot points. No real narrative arc to speak of beyond a sequence of events and the corresponding ripples.
The lone objective bright spot in this otherwise meandering experience is Taylor Russell. She is the quiet heart of the film and gives the audience a proxy by which we can feel like this trauma matters. She is the anchor by which this flailing narrative is sometimes able to find roots. But even her narrative arc is ultimately unsatisfying—not so much because of where she winds up—but because of how much time feels wasted watching her get there.
With every frame, you will feel the audience dividing around you. It is easy to see how someone could be swept away. But it is more likely will feel like you are drowning.
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