38. Waves; movie review

WAVES
Cert 15
136 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong language, drug misuse, violence

I know, I know. I am often ranting on about movie-makers taking no chances and sometimes when they do, I give them a hard time.
Nobody could accuse Trey Edward Shults of playing it safe with his much-acclaimed Waves and he deserves praise for offering the audience something new.
But, amid the kaleidoscope of colours and heavy-bass music, the storyline is in danger of drowning.
And that is a pity because there are the occasional scenes which show that extra character exploration would have been worthwhile.
Waves stars Tyler Williams as a popular 18-year-old who is a key player on his school's wrestling team.
However, unknown to his coaches and domineering father (Sterling K. Brown) he has suffered a potentially career-ending injury which he tries to fight through.

At the same time, what he believes is a perfect relationship with his girlfriend (Alexa Demie) faces unexpected tumult.
The combination of these factors leads him to an action which has terrible consequences for everyone around him.
Waves is the latest film to take far too long to get going.
Shults spends 90 minutes plot-laying, often without any deep dialogue and only superficial character development. In other words, it is a clear case of style over substance.
His film's denouement, when Taylor Russell and Lucas Hedges take centre stage is much more profound and, therefore, strikes a much louder chord.
Indeed, Russell and Brown's father-daughter fishing trip is the most heart-rending scene by a distance.
However, these are oases in a movie which concentrates more on being funky than it does on telling a story.
I guess that it probably wasn't aimed at our age group and its makers would care more about the opinion of the young. Sadly, I don't qualify and can only say as I see.

Reasons to watch: Tries hard to be different
Reasons to avoid: Lack of character and story exploration

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: Yes
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 5/10

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The final word. Trey Edward Shults: "It was basically drawing on my own personal stuff, my girlfriend's personal stuff, and Kelvin Harrison's personal stuff, all at that age. Sometimes it would be literal, sometimes it would just be feelings—the pressures and everything else that could be swirling around your head emotionally at that time."  GQ.com

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