Trey Edward Shults’ 2019 film Waves opens with a title card that reads, “When I was drowning, the wave taught me to sing.” This enigmatic proverb serves as the film’s thematic DNA, establishing a universe where destruction and grace are not opposites but phases of the same cyclical motion. Waves is not merely a coming-of-age drama or a tragedy; it is a visceral, sensory experience that uses the very grammar of cinema—color, aspect ratio, and sound—to dissect the pressures of modern masculinity, the fragility of family, and the arduous possibility of forgiveness. By structurally bifurcating its narrative into two distinct, tidal halves, Shults crafts a radical meditation on how trauma transforms a family, ultimately arguing that the only way to survive a catastrophic wave is to learn to breathe beneath the surface.
This rupture comes from a confluence of pressures: a debilitating shoulder injury, a strained relationship with his girlfriend Alexis (Alexa Demie), and the quiet, simmering resentment of his stepsister Emily (Taylor Russell). The film’s centerpiece is a masterclass in tragic inevitability. After a house party, Tyler’s rage, stoked by perceived betrayal and his father’s crushing disappointment, boils over. In a shocking, unflinching sequence, he attacks Alexis, an act that leads to a fatal accident. Shults does not romanticize or excuse this violence; he presents it as the logical, horrifying endpoint of a system that teaches boys to sublimate pain into aggression. The aftermath is swift and merciless: Tyler is arrested, Ronald is shattered, and the first half ends with a funeral and a prison sentence. The wave has crashed, and the family is drowned. waves movie
The film’s climax is not a dramatic confrontation but a quiet act of courage. Emily visits Tyler in prison. The scene, shot in static close-ups across a visitation table, is devastating in its honesty. Tyler, broken and repentant, seeks absolution. Emily, still nursing her own wounds, cannot give it fully—but she offers presence. She tells him she loves him, but the pain remains unsolvable. This is Shults’ most profound insight: forgiveness is not a binary state but a lifelong negotiation. The film concludes not with a return to normalcy but with a fragile, tentative dinner scene. Ronald, having shed his authoritarian armor, apologizes to Emily with a trembling voice. The family eats together, not in joy, but in the quiet, exhausted solidarity of survivors. Trey Edward Shults’ 2019 film Waves opens with