Naturalism is the hardest effect to nail in movies. Cinema tends to live above the realm of how things appear in the real world with exaggerated dialogue and situations mean to manipulate the viewer. But to actually mimic what real life feels like is a tough challenge for any film. Waves is one of the few films that does that, channeling the brutality, joy, pain, laughter, and trials of life in a beautifully harrowing and ultimately uplifting mix.
Trey Edward Shults, director of one of my favorite films of the decade It Comes at Night, wrote and directed this film about the trials of a Black family in South Florida. Kelvin Harrison Jr. plays Tyler Williams, a senior in high school with a promising future in wrestling, a loving girlfriend (Alexa Demie), and a seemingly perfect life. He’s pushed by his father (Sterling K. Brown), who, while now remarried to a wonderful woman (Renee Elise Goldsberry), is still affected by his late wife’s passing. Meanwhile Tyler’s sister (the amazing Taylor Russell) is coming into her own as a person. However, their existence is more tenuous than would seem on the surface and in the aftermath of a tragedy, the family is forced to dig deep to pick up the pieces.
Waves is a movie of two halves, designed for maximum effectiveness of showing us the ebbs and flows of life. The human condition is to be taken to the highest highs and lowest lows, and Shults is masterful at keeping everything grounded. It’s like he’s giving us a peek into the lives of our next door neighbors, peeling the guise and veneer of what it means to look like the perfect family. He tackles so many topics plaguing the world today and I am amazed at just how lived in the script felt. Even when the movie hits its big dramatic beats, I never felt like anything was misplaced or over dramatized. When the tragedy happens and the movie moves into a different mode in the second half, Shults doesn’t let us immediately heal but holds us as we trudge through picking up the pieces.
Shults isn’t the only one making Waves feel lived in; there isn’t a single performance in this film that doesn’t grip you like a vice. There’s much to write home about Sterling and Renee, who managed to portray the parents who don’t understand and a new type of Black parent that we rarely get to see. There’s an intensity with these characters, especially in how Sterling manages to navigate through playing a stern Black father dealing with a Gen-Z child, that was fascinating to witness. But the movie truly belongs to Kelvin and Taylor, who give two of the best performances of the year. This kind of nuanced character work would be a feat for a much older actor, and that they did this so young is a beautiful thing. As I was watching, I could decide if I wanted to watch them act more or have their characters stress me out less. What a thrill to be in that place as an audience member.
Waves is sterling film made all the more prescient due to the issues it tackles and just how much care everyone from the director to the actors put into the film.