TELLURIDE – Despite the South Florida setting, the “Waves” that are referred to in the title of Trey Edward Shults new drama are in no way the literal kind. In production notes provided to the press, the filmmaker best known for the indie darling “Krisha” says his film “exudes an ebb and flow resembling how I think life truly feels at times.” O.K., that is a bit of an obvious observation for an adult to make but we’ll admit it can be a jarring life lesson for a teenager. It’s one of the reasons high school is rough for so many teens and why the metaphor works in the context of the two characters at the center of Schults’ sprawling, ambitious creation: wresting team star Tyler (Kevin Harrison, Jr.) and his sister Emily (Taylor Russell).
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We know it’s bad form to use this term once again in the context of this review, but “ambitious” may be something of an understatement for what Shults is attempting with “Waves.” The movie is, for better and worse, a lot. At its core, it’s a film structured as two somewhat separate narratives that are bound together by a tragic incident involving one of the main characters. The second portion of the film then goes off into a very unexpected direction while still trying to hang on to the main themes of the first half. Bluntly, this is experimental narrative filmmaking that would be difficult for even the most skilled cinematic artists to pull off. When Shults soars under this structure, he composes some brilliant moments. When he falters, it seems like the movie doesn’t know where to go or when to end (if it even wants to).
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The general narrative begins by introducing Tyler as a typical senior who seemingly has it all. His parents, Roland (Sterling K. Brown) and Catherine (Renée Elise Goldsberry), have provided both of their children with a bountiful middle-class environment to grow up in. Tyler has his own car, is infatuated with his beautiful girlfriend Alexis (Alexis Demie), expects to attend college in the fall, and is confident enough in himself to dye his hair blonde (perhaps the most telling trait of all). Roland, however, is a tough taskmaster. He oversees Tyler’s physical training and refuses to give him an inch despite his son’s continued success. When Tyler’s shoulder begins to act up after a wrestling injury, he steals some of Roland’s pain killers and keeps the fact he’s actually torn his labrum from both his parents to avoid surgery. Tyler’s world becomes even more stressful when Alexis informs him she’s not only pregnant but has decided to keep their baby against his wishes.
On the flip side is Emily, Tyler’s younger sibling who continually comes to his emotional rescue. She’s the centerpiece of the second half of the picture, dealing with the aforementioned tragedy that haunts everyone around her. Eventually, she finds joy again in a blossoming relationship with Luke (Lucas Hedges), a classmate unbothered by the scarlet letter affixed to her family’s name,
To reveal any more of the narrative would be unfair to Shults’ overall aspirations, but one of the most disappointing aspects of the screenplay is that its plot devices are so recognizable. You’ve seen all of this before in one way or another (and in recent media, no less). One way Shults attempts to offset that familiarity is by creating a visual aesthetic with his cinematographer Drew Daniels that is a major departure from their previous collaborations “Krisha” and “It Comes At Night.” For instance, the camera moves in 360 or 720-degree turns, mostly in free-wheeling moments. Flashing party lamps or police cars are used to completely light scenes even when the light sources are far out of frame. There are a number of impressively long one-shot sequences where Shults will follow a character–mostly Tyler–throughout an entire building or area. Shults and Daniels also regularly have the cameras follow the characters everywhere, even in quick shots, so the frame is constantly moving. Imagine if Terrence Malick was into directing contemporary music videos and it all makes a bit more sense (Shults notably worked on three Malick films early in his career). In fact, the first static shot in the picture may not appear until a good 20 minutes or more into the movie. Again, Shults wants to keep everything moving. He furthers that aesthetic with an original electronic score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross that gets lost in a barrage of tracks from Radiohead, Frank Ocean, Animal Collective and Kendrick Lamar that constantly pepper the movie. The overall result is stunning, but it also can be dizzying and too obvious for the storytelling at hand.
The biggest gift Shults has been granted in this endeavor is that every single actor in the film bares their souls for him. Harrison, Jr., Russell, Brown and Elise Goldsberry all portray the events in the picture as a true gut punch to the souls of their characters. They are in pain and the emotional hurt they display feels incredibly real. It’s rare to have so many members of an ensemble reach that point, but this cast truly gives it their all. They are spectacular in that respect, but with Shults’ unwieldy tendencies their performances repeatedly feel overshadowed by the movie’s stylistic ambitions.
During “Waves’” 2 hours and 15 min runtime, your mind starts to wander a bit and you begin to notice similarities to HBO’s “Euphoria,” which aired this past summer. This is another dark look at teenagers going through rough times (co-produced by “Waves’” distributor A24, featuring Demie on-screen and behind-the-camera work from Daniels). Perhaps the fact both projects have arrived on the scene at the same time says something about teenagers in contemporary America. Perhaps they are products of a similar aesthetic finding its way through independent film and episodic content. And maybe, despite taking some gutsy chances here and there, the end result is not as fresh or moving as their creators hoped it would be. [B-]
“Waves” opens in limited release on Nov. 1.
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