WAVES Trailer

A family is under the microscope in Waves, the latest from writer/director Trey Edward Shults.

At first glance, they seem like an average family. Dad and mom have steady jobs and are attentive with their kids, the son is thriving in high school, and the daughter is settling into her teenage years. Just under the surface, though, are several currents of tension, each of which could break their world. They are a black family in America, and so their grip on middle class life is perilous. The father knows this best, perhaps pushes his kids a little too hard to understand it, and leads his family perilously close to collapse.

Shults is the kind of director who can get away with a light plot, as his previous films, Krisha and It Comes at Night, are more cacophonous sensory experiences. Immersing you in a family’s world is sort of his thing, so Waves is directly in his wheelhouse. His reputation means he can attract a stellar cast, bringing back a rising Kelvin Harrison Jr. from Night and adding Sterling K. Brown, Renée Elise Goldsberry, and Taylor Russell as the rest of the family. Other recognizable faces pop up, but these four are the film’s core, and they make a marvelous one.

Full disclosure: I’ve seen this already, and I think it’s well worth catching in theaters. You want the sound and the images to overwhelm you in a way only the theater allows, so seek this one out.

Waves is directed by Trey Edward Shults and stars Kelvin Harrison Jr., Sterling K. Brown, Renée Elise Goldsberry, and Taylor Russell. It will be released in the US on November 15th, 2019 and in the UK on January 17th, 2020. For international release dates, click here.

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