Waves

To describe Waves briefly, I would describe it as an emotional rollercoaster that had many ups and downs where my awareness of time completely disappeared. I was instantly sucked in by the mesmerising cinematography - a feature that remained consistently beautiful throughout - where a story began to grow. As I watched, I was waiting for a shift in atmosphere as soon as the ‘large’ turning point that I expected to be the main focus of this movie quickly escalated to produce one of the most unexpected scene that I was 100% not ready for. I initially expected that his shoulder injury would be the ‘large’ turning point, but clearly I was wrong. I believe that that whole scene was extraordinary and couldn’t have been done any other way. The build-up to it is also phenomenal due to the result being very vague and unpredictable, I hadn’t even considered the result until the moment it happened. To my surprise, the movie had pivoted into an utterly different story where the outcome of the first act will be detrimental to the second. I’ll label Emily and Luke’s relationship and growth as the second act of the movie, because personally it simply is the second act. I love how we get to see every part of their relationship, from the very beginning to where the movie finishes. Their connections and interactions with each other are truly special, sparking something within me that creates relief and comfort, almost like I aspire to have these experiences with the woman of my dreams; I definitely do. However, their relationship goes above and beyond with two separate issues of their lives affecting them solemnly. From the first act, Emily experiences her brother commit murder and get sentenced to life in prison, where she feels an abundance of guilt due to her belief that she could’ve stopped him. She also watches her family fall apart since her mother can’t look her father in the eyes without seeing him, without seeing Tyler. Luke is raised by an abusive father who tormented the life of his mother and Luke himself, until his mom decided to leave her drunk and abusive husband. This aspect of the movie carved a smile into my face because of its message that screams to me saying, “Life is more than just tragedy and your worst experiences, its about growing past it and enjoying it with the people you love most.” This is what Emily and Luke are able to do, and they do it with grace as well as having no regrets.  The only moment that brought a tear out of my eyes during this movie was when Emily was talking to her dad while fishing where he confesses that Catherine doesn’t love him anymore and apologises for not being there all the time for Emily. It made me cry because it hurts to even fathom my own family slowly becoming distant. I also have another reason but I don’t feel comfortable writing it although I’m sure future me reading this will know exactly what I’m referring to; the one night when he took a drive. Besides from personal shit, it really was a sad scene to watch especially with the events that lead up to it. Overall, Waves is a straight-up masterpiece where every scene is shot amazingly well due to the outstanding cinematography I mentioned prior. The use of colours in this movie is something I can discuss for an extremely long time, definitely going to be an aspect I will look back on and remember how great it was. I really got lost in the movie too and I think I rarely zoned out because I was so captivated; I lost track of time so badly that I didn’t even know the movie ended. There is so much to love about Waves and there is so much to learn from about Waves. I hope I remember the key messages of this movie or at least acknowledge them in parts of my life where it would be extremely helpful.  ** “I think about your brother every day, the things that I coulda done differently, but we can’t change it you know, all we have is now. All we have is now, and I’m telling you this because I love you. Holding onto that much hate will destroy a person, and I’m not about to let that happen to you. You have so much love to share with the world, and so much life yet to live.”**