Waves Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Waves Blu-ray Movie Review

Family matters.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 24, 2020

A wave is generically defined as a disturbance in equilibrium, and in that most general regard, the title of Waves certainly begins to make a lot of sense aside and apart from any of the scenes in the film that take place next to water. This harrowing and at times emotionally devastating film documents the trials and tribulations of a well to do African American family in Florida whose seemingly practically perfect life (if one occasionally riven with typical family dysfunctions) is rent asunder when star athlete son Tyler Williams (Kelvin Harrison, Jr.) makes a series of unwise decisions. The first of these is deciding not to inform his martinet father Ronald (Sterling K. Brown) and stepmother Catherine (Renée Elise Goldsberry) that he’s suffered a very serious shoulder injury resulting from his wrestling activities, instead deciding to gobble down his father’s always bountiful stash of Oxycodone instead. When the injury finally disastrously puts an end to any thoughts of continuing with wrestling (and, tangentially, a full athletic scholarship to college), Tyler’s life continues to spiral further out of control when his girlfriend Alexis Lopez (Alexa Demie) announces she thinks she’s pregnant. Tyler responds with a tendency toward partying hearty, becoming less and less emotionally reliable as a result. Things careen toward calamity (which will have to be revealed in the “jump” below in order for a plot summary to make sense, so those wary of spoilers are appropriately cautioned to stop now if they’re concerned), with the family left to pick up the veritable pieces. But rather fascinatingly, that’s only part of the saga Waves goes on to tell, with a somewhat unexpected “jump” of its own well into this more than two hour tale that may be the cinematic equivalent of that old Paul Harvey mantra, “And now. . .for the rest of the story.”

The brief outline offered in the first paragraph above takes a rather long while to unspool in the film itself, which is perhaps as much evidence as anything that writer and director Trey Edward Shults wants to take his time in exploring the characters at least as much as what they’re going through. The early part of the film smartly documents the hard charging Type A personality of Ronald, a guy who obviously wants the best for both Tyler and Tyler’s little sister Emily (Taylor Russell), but who perhaps subscribes to a less than helpful parental version of “the ends justify the means”, often resorting to near bullying with his son in particular. One of the more interesting aspects to Ronald’s character is disclosed, if kind of surreptitiously, after Tyler’s shoulder injury becomes “public”. Instead of nurturing his son, understanding that Tyler’s refusal to “announce” it was at least partially due to Ronald’s own insistence that Tyler pursue a wrestling scholarship, he gets into a rather heated argument with Catherine (which Tyler overhears through a shared bedroom wall) about Tyler’s lack of honesty and supposed scheming.

That said, while Tyler is shown to basically be a “good kid”, he’s also already exhibiting at least some signs of being slightly out of control from the very first shot of him as he goofs around in his car with Alexis. By the time things really spin toward chaos, Tyler has had huge blow ups with both Alexis and his father in particular, leading to what some might assume would be the climax of the film (and here’s the spoiler part), Tyler’s (inadvertent) killing of Alexis during a heated interchange at a party. Tyler ends up going to prison ostensibly for life, seemingly fulfilling his father’s worst fears about what growing up black in the United States can mean. A less ambitious film probably could have ended there, to perhaps considerable effect. But what really is rather bracing about Waves is how it moves on almost seamlessly to document what all of the aforementioned ends up meaning to Emily, a character who has certainly been around for the first section, albeit largely on the sidelines.

Emily turns out to feel a different kind of onslaught than Tyler faced in the first part of the film, and she’s initially ostracized after Tyler’s conviction. Interestingly, one of Tyler’s former wrestling teammates, Luke (Lucas Hedges), ends up reaching out to Emily and a new romance slowly blossoms. Some unlikely reconciliations ultimately take place, which may strike more curmudgeonly types as potentially the most treacly aspect of the film. This whole “second” part of the film kind of frankly arrives from out of left field, but I have to say after having thought about it, it’s rather potent on any number of levels, not the least of which is how it shows the ramifications of one family member’s actions on other family members.

This film is an actor’s showcase, and all of the principal players do really outstanding work. Brown is especially good in a role which intentionally is initially seen as pretty unsympathetic, but whose nobler instincts are still able to shine through. Kind of weirdly (at least to me), in one of the supplements on this disc Brown tells Harrison Jr. not to worry about his performance, indicating that Harrison had confided that he wasn’t feeling confident about his work. That seems odd both for Brown to disclose (though he’s admittedly telling Harrison it’s “all good”), but also for the simple reason (and here ironically I’m in total agreement with Brown) Harrison is really a knockout as Tyler, bringing a real emotional immediacy to the film.

Waves Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Waves is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in a variety of aspect ratios, as will be discussed below. The four aspect ratios documented in the screenshots accompanying this review are 2.67:1, 2.40:1, 1.85:1 and 1.35:1, which I believe may be the sum total throughout the film, though I admittedly may have missed something (let me know via private message if I have, and I'll happily update the review*). Shults kind of discursively mentions some of the transitions in his commentary, but I have to say I'm not entirely sure either his stated rationale or the actual changes in aspect ratio really do much other than initially call attention to themselves. I will say that I did find the change to the narrowest aspect ratio (1.35:1) the most effective since it comes at the "climax" mentioned above in the main body of the review and seems to put an inescapable claustrophobic ambience on Tyler at a critical moment. Some of the other changes just frankly struck me as random. The IMDb lists Arri Alexas as having captured the imagery (with a 2K DI, again according to the IMDb), but as can probably be made out in some of the screenshots accompanying this review, digital grain has been added, giving the film a just slightly mottled appearance at times. There are some intentionally almost impressionistic moments during some party scenes (see screenshot 11) where detail levels are understandably minimal, but on the whole I found detail and fine detail levels to be generally excellent throughout some rather wide variances in not just aspect ratios, but grading and lighting choices. There are some really evocative uses of color throughout the film, some of which reminded me in a way of another Florida set movie dealing with an African American experience, Moonlight.

Update: A member kindly private messaged me to say that there is indeed a fifth aspect ratio that I didn't include in the screencaptures. It measures approximately 3.00:1.

Waves Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Waves has a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix that offers what I personally consider to be one of the more interesting listening experiences I've had in a dramatic film lately. The film is awash (pun intended) in both music and sound effects, the latter of which often waft through the soundstage like the film's title. In fact, the sound design here can almost be overwhelming at times, but it's notable that all of the main dramatic dialogue moments come through without any problems whatsoever, even if other elements are present. There's near constant immersion in this track, albeit in appropriate volleys of "crest" and "trough". Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross provide another really interesting score, with a few other source cues also being utilized, but for me personally, it was the really interesting use of ostensibly non-musical elements like the big washes of what might either be wind or water that gave this film's soundtrack its most distinctive element.

Waves Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Writer / Director Trey Edward Shults and Actor Kelvin Harrison, Jr.


• Creating Waves: The Truth in It All (1080p; 14:03) is an engaging EPK with some good interviews.


• Q & A with Director and Cast (1080p; 29:49) is moderated Joshua Rothkopf from Time Out New York, and includes Trey Edward Shults, Sterling K. Brown, Taylor Russell, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Kelvin Harrison Jr., and Alexa Demie.


• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 13:00)

Waves Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

In the Q & A included on this disc as a supplement, Shults kind of addresses what may be an unstated subtext for some, namely is it cultural appropriation for a white guy to try to write and direct a story so intimately tied to the African American experience? I'll leave that for analysts more skilled than I to figure out, other than to say this is an incredibly uniquely structured film that offers a moving story beautifully performed by a really solid cast. Technical merits are first rate, and Waves comes Highly recommended.