As early as the Toronto Film Festival, many friends recommended it to me after watching it. However, there has been a conflict of time and I only saw it today. It’s hard to tell what kind of movie this film is. It is about family love, but the first half is almost like a suspense film, focusing on the danger, pressure and emotions in the youth world, creating a tense atmosphere that I always feel If something bad is about to happen, keep reminding me. It wasn't until something bad really happened that I gradually understood what the film was about:
On the one hand, a family’s experience is used to show how important it is for families to support and protect each other when they encounter setbacks in life; on the other hand, it also shows how treacherous a teenager’s growth environment is, alcohol, drugs, and pressure from the surroundings. When encountering physical conditions and emotional setbacks, a young seedling who had grown up sturdily fell to the ground, making people embarrassed and frightened.
The director's photography and soundtrack skills should be the most admirable part of the film, followed by the excellent performance of the entire cast. Optimistic about the finalists for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Group Performance. After all, there are not many outstanding black-starred works this year. With SAG's principle of supporting diversity, this film should become a representative and be pushed to the fore.
But in fact, the story has nothing to do with race. If you change the color of this family, the whole story can be established. It tells the situation that may happen in all teenagers' families. And the performances of this family were wonderful, especially the little girl Taylor Russell. The conversation with her father in the film really made us cry in the theater. She played "Escape Room" before and was very impressive. Although Lucas Hedges doesn't have many scenes, it is thanks to him that attracts the audience's attention to the film. Although Hedges will not be nominated for this film, at least he continues to prove that his vision of selecting films still maintains the title of "the boy who never plays bad films".
The first half of the story tells the story of how the son of the family gradually collapsed and degenerated from being an excellent high school athlete and campus celebrity due to various pressures and setbacks. The presentation is quite distressing. Especially every time he drives or rides in someone else’s car, the director puts a rotating camera in the car, rotating 360 degrees to show how crazy the young people in the car are. Don't wear seat belts, drink alcohol, dance, stick your head and hands out of the car window. . . To be honest, every time he uses this trick, I feel that I'm about to crash! This has scared me many times, and the tension has been created very well until the climax of the film. In this process, the audience is really as frightened as watching a horror movie. With a lot of R&B dance music and electronic music, people's hearts are beating.
The second half is to show how the whole family was lost and tortured with regret, and the younger sister finally realized the preciousness of family and relatives from her boyfriend's experience. Although the film shows the cruelty of high school life, in the end, family and affection are the backing of everything. Comparing the two paragraphs before and after can be said to be two processes of trauma and healing. When the son encountered setbacks, he didn't ask for help from his family, and caused bad results by going his own way. The daughter also wanted to escape, but finally realized the importance of family members.
It is rare to see a movie with an almost all black lineup that is not about racial discrimination and conflict, and the shooting method is quite unique, I recommend everyone to see it.
View more about Waves reviews
