Waves

With the frenetic, emotionally devastating Waves, writer/director Trey Edward Shults proves that the third time is indeed the charm.

After two well-made but narratively bankrupt features — the loathsome Krisha (2015) and the pretentious It Comes at Night (2017) — Shults has “finally” penned a script to match his top-notch technical prowess. 

The film’s initial star is Tyler (Kelvin Harrison Jr., Luce), a talented South Florida high school wrestler driven by his self-made father Ronald (Sterling K. Brown, NBC’s This Is Us), whose high standards have thus far inspired greatness from his son, but are about to have their less-flattering consequences revealed.

Portraying a star student under immense pressure to perform at elite levels in all ways of life, Harrison keeps Tyler sympathetic at nearly every turn — a staggering accomplishment considering the intense stress he inspires through his poor choices and the verbal abuse of his girlfriend Alexis (Alexa Demie, Mid90s) and loving step-mother Catharine (Renée Elise Goldsberry, the original cast of Hamilton).

As Waves progresses, its mission gratefully becomes split between breaking viewers’ hearts through Tyler’s string of questionable decisions and restoring spirits through a focus on his little sister Emily (Taylor Russell, Escape Room) and her budding relationship with love interest Luke (Lucas Hedges, in full adorable goofball mode).

Minus Russell’s complicated yet uplifting work as Emily, the film would still be a knockout coming-of-age story, but with her damaged optimism, razor-sharp edits that echo Terrence Malick’s best work, and a structure that recalls The Place Beyond the Pines, Waves organically builds to gigantic moments, bolstered by powerful mini-explosions along the way.

Other than multiple jarring musical cues that may make certain viewers plug their ears, the primary knock against this stunning work is whether a movie about a young black man destroying his life is truly the story to tell right now — especially from a white filmmaker. 

Despite the showcase it offers Harrison, Brown, and Russell, and the numerous positives of centering on a black family, Waves unwittingly reinforces its share of negative stereotypes, though always in the service of honesty and hope. As such, nagging questions aside, Shults and his collaborators accomplish so much cinematic positivity in the process that it’s difficult to let the film’s few flaws bog it down. 

Grade: A-minus. Rated R. Starts Dec. 6 at Carolina Cinemark

(Photo: A24)