By Shane Conto
What makes a great film? Is it the emotional attachment that a story and characters create? Is it the thoroughly engrossing filmmaking that sucks you in from the start? Is it the atmosphere that music, sound, and camerawork synthesizes together? Is it a story that keeps you engaged and guessing while layering themes that are poignant and relatable? A great film is able to balance all of them. Waves is one such film. A small festival film that will most likely get ignored by the Academy, Waves is a special film that does not come along often. Should this film get the awards consideration this awards season? Without a doubt yes. Here are a few aspects of the film that deserve such recognition.
Score: Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
What can a great score do for a film? The right score can help create the atmosphere and tone of a film in inventive ways. Reznor and Ross are famous at this point with their film work for creating scores that are more of a feeling than a grouping of instruments. Combined with particular sequences of the film that are visually abstract, the score matches these visuals in a haunting way. This film does not feature “horror” per se but when you see into the horrors of humanity, this score penetrates you all the way through. With a film like Waves, you see the most beautiful moments in human life and also the most tragic heartbreaks. Reznor and Ross are able to create softer and affecting pieces along with the deep bass humming in those dark moments. I felt this score as I left the theater and I am still hearing it in my head now. That is what makes an awards worthy score.
Cinematography: Drew Daniels
How does great cinematography really compliment a film? The camerawork can be inventive and engrossing including impressive shots like a single shot that turns inside a car to make the audience feel in the middle of the action and close to the people inside. This was done well multiple times during Waves as Daniels put the audience inside the scene. The vibrant colors are also impressive as the film is given life, connecting back to the themes of the film. Colors pop when the film celebrates the beauty of life and the emotional connections between people. The shadows and darkness encompass the frames when the audience is dropped into ugly and tense human moments. I felt connected to the film on a deep level from the opening shots as this film, thanks in no small part to the DP, thanks to how well this story is visually told.
Original Screenplay: Trey Edward Shults
How do you make the everyday of life feel so engrossing when other films can take you away to other worlds? A sharp, heartfelt, and confident script that feels raw and pulls no punches can do just that. This film centers around two relationships (a film of two stories), as one spirals out of control and a new one grows from the very first moment of meeting. A young man, pushed and tortured, fumbles through a once loving relationship as anger forms and engrosses his life. His sister, in the ashes of a tragedy, meets a young man and falls in love as her and her family must process true heartache. This script expertly balances what could feel like two separate films as it smoothly threads this family’s experiences together. The script written by writer-director Trey Edward Shults injects deep themes of humanity and loss that you connect so deeply with the experiences of each character. Everyone has layers, tragedy in their past, and complex emotions that challenge the audience at every turn. This a story (or two) worth your time and emotional investment.
Supporting Actor: Sterling K. Brown
Sterling K. Brown has surely made a name for himself as an actor in recent years for his performances in This is Us, The People V. O.J. Simpson, and a small but crucial role in Black Panther. What makes his role as Ronald in Waves so special? Every scene that Brown appears in is commanded by his performance and the raw emotion he brings. His intensity as a hard and pressing father to his son makes you understand the pressure that Tyler is under. In small moments of power lifting and expressing his masculinity (and yet also his physical vulnerability), Brown is shown to be intense and driven but also shown to push too far. Later scenes with his wife show another side as Brown avoids normal yelling but instead a direct and vulnerable state as you feel the tears and heartbreak that embody him. Will Brown really get nominated for this performance? That is tough to say but it would be a horrible turn of events if Brown is ignored for such a raw and emotionally resonant performance.
Actor: Kelvin Harrison Jr.
How does a young actor like Harrison, who already gave a career launching performance in Luce, really make a name for himself? He doubles down in 2019 with another powerhouse performance that feels equally relatable and hard to watch. Harrison is raw and his intensity is ready to boil over at any moment. His loving moments earlier on feel so real and beautiful because Harrison puts himself out on a line to really embody those feels for the audience. That makes it even more horrifying when those emotions turn to darkness and he begins to really embody his own anger and fear. It was hard to watch the tension that flowed through his being as he destroys his own room in one scene and curse out his family in another. One scene in particular, which will be one of the most talked about scenes in the film, Harrison swings from a raging force of passion to a crumbled heap of sadness and regret. This is one compelling performance you do not want to miss.
Best Picture/Director: Trey Edward Shults
For the sake of your time and efficiency, I wrap up this article with this final blurb combining direction and the film as a whole. All of the previous points I made are justification for Shults work as he is the conductor of this orchestra of emotions and pulls all of these amazing aspects together to create one of the most emotionally impactful films of the year. There are not many (if any) others films this year that will make you feel so many emotions in a powerful way. That is a sign of a great film created by a great director. Is this film too small in a sea of bigger films to get the awards recognition it deserves? Probably but it could be the surprising Moonlight of 2019.