Thanks to his turn in this US melodrama, Kelvin Harrison Jr has been nominated for a Bafta Rising Star Award and, though up against fantastic competition, he deserves to win.
Playing a sensitive jock, he’s Frank Ocean deep. Trey Edward Shults’s third film, by the way, is drenched in modern beats. If you think about music every seven seconds, this is a must-see.
Tracks from Animal Collective and Tame Impala introduce us to the dangerously euphoric world of our hero, Tyler Williams (Harrison), who, having detected weakness in his body, secretly pops his dad’s painkillers so he can still feel immortal. Said dad (Sterling K Brown), all too aware of the racism in sunny Florida, thinks Tyler needs to be superhuman to survive. Tyler’s girlfriend (Alexa Demie) puts him on a pedestal, until an unwanted pregnancy changes everything.
Shults’s camera doesn’t do straight lines. It curves into conflict and makes us spin, even in the film’s quieter second half. Remember the moment in Psycho when you’re missing Marion Crane then her pale shadow of a sister shows up? That’s sort of how you feel when the focus shifts to Tyler’s sibling, Emily (newcomer Taylor Russell). The twist is that Emily is just as juicy as her brother.
Waves is a hot hymn to sex, drugs and love and, with very little fuss, gives the wonderful Lucas Hedges his best role in years (as Emily’s hyper-earnest boyfriend, Luke).
Those who worry that Luke functions as a white saviour for the beleaguered Williams should note that Harrison was originally pencilled in to play this character. Anyone who says Waves is perfect is lying (it definitely has its mawkish moments). Still, what a ride.
The biggest film releases of 2020 still to come
