“Waves”– Movie Review

This week at Film at Lincoln Center, there was a sneak preview of the new drama, “Waves”, starring Sterling K. Brown.

Synopsis

Will a tightknit family be able to recover following a tragedy?

Story

In South Florida, Tyler (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) is a high school senior living his best life along with his girlfriend Alexis (Alexa Demie).  While both teenagers have a bright future ahead of them, their short-term goals are clear: Alexis wants to have fun in her last year of school and Tyler wants to finish his wrestling career strong.  To that end, he enlists the aid of his father, Ronald (Sterling K. Brown) to act as something of a supplemental coach. Ronald, a former athlete himself, pushes Tyler as hard as he pushes himself as they workout together.  But perhaps Ronald is pushing his son a little too hard. 

Tyler severely injures his shoulder in a wrestling mishap; the doctor informs Tyler that he requires surgery, which will effectively prematurely end his high school wrestling career.  Rejecting surgery, Tyler tries to push himself through the pain – unfortunately, this means stealing some of the oxycodone his father uses for an old knee injury. Subsequently, when Tyler can no longer wrestle, he supplements his drug abuse with alcohol abuse.  Once he finds out that Alexis is pregnant and refuses to have an abortion, the two have a huge fight which results in a breakup. His substance abuse only worsens at this point. 

When Tyler follows Alexis to a party, they argue over the abortion once again – but with Tyler out of control, he hits her, causing Alexis to perish.  Tyler’s life is now ruined as he is sentenced to a long stretch in prison. With the incident being highly publicized, his younger sister Emily (Taylor Russell) now finds herself ostracized in her final year of high school.  At home, Ronald and his wife Catharine (Renée Elise Goldsberry) are experiencing such a strain on their marriage, it’s impacting the ability of both to earn a living; by now, it’s unclear whether they will be able to remain together.  Will this family stay intact while Tyler does his time?         

Review

As a director, Trey Edward Shults does a skillful job when it comes to telling a story in a visually interesting manner.  In particular, his use of camera movement and music (NIN’s Trent Reznor is credited for the soundtrack) are particularly notable.  When it comes to the screenplay, however, there are structural and narrative issues that seriously detract from “Waves” that ultimately result in an unsatisfying experience for the viewer.  It’s a bit of a challenge to say what the story is supposed to be about: Is it about Tyler dealing with his adversity? Is it about Emily finding her life again? Is it about how the parents proceed following this setback?  Apparently, it tries to be about all three, which is where the narrative spine of the script crumbles.

“Waves” is essentially Tyler’s story up until the point at which he is sentenced (side note:  why did he plead guilty to Murder 2 instead of Manslaughter?). Thereafter, it then becomes Emily’s story and (to a lesser extent) Catherine and Ronald’s story.  This change of focus can easily throw off the audience because after spending most of our screen time following Tyler (at an estimate, more than half of the movie), now our attention is forced to switch to a character (or characters) that were previously secondary or tertiary.  The viewer’s emotional investment in them will be limited at best. It’s something of a whiplash moment.

Following the screening, there was an interview with director Trey Edward Shults and several of the cast.  Shults described “Waves” as being deeply personal and autobiographical – something of a fictional narrative about himself and his loved ones.  Originally, he conceived of it as a story about music and teens when he himself was back in high school; through the years, he matured and the story added layers.  His choices of camera movement were done as a way to get into the head and heart of the characters, providing the audience with an immersive experience through the characters’ viewpoint.     

“Little Joe”– Movie Review

This week at Film at Lincoln Center, there was a sneak preview of the new science fiction drama, “Little Joe”, directed and co-written by Jessica Hausner.

Synopsis

When a scientist develops a new plant that makes people happy, what will happen once the plant tries to manipulate humans?

Story

Alice (Emily Beecham) is one of a team of scientists working on developing a new and unusual type of plant:  one that will make its owner happy.  The catch is that the plant must be cared for as if it were a child – it needs to be touched and spoken to and kept very warm under a bright lamp.  They are anxious about its development because it is believed that once this plant is introduced to the market, it will become very popular and make a tremendous amount of money.  But working on this plant has come at a cost:  Alice’s relationship with her teenage son, Joe (Kit Connor).  

Meanwhile, Alice is being romantically pursued by her colleague Chris (Ben Whishaw), who has been working closely with her on this project.  But between her dedication to her job and her concerns over her son, Alice finds Chris to be nothing more than an unnecessary distraction.  Feeling increasingly distant from his mother, Joe starts making it known to Alice that he might be better off living with his father, who lives far away in the woods.  Alice doesn’t want to lose her son, but at the same time, she is also rather serious about her career. 

In an effort to make things better with Joe, Alice brings home one of the plants as a gift for her son.  To show her affection for him, she decides to name the plant Little Joe; Alice instructs Joe how best to care for the plant so that it will continue to grow and bloom.  But the more time Little Joe spends in the house, the more it seems to take control:  it starts to emit an unusual type of pollen which Joe inhales, resulting in a distinct personality change.  When Alice notices this, her immediate reaction is to rescue her son.  But if she does, will this also wind up causing her career to stall? 

Review

While watching “Little Joe”, one can be forgiven for thinking that you’ve seen this movie before – specifically, “Invasion Of The Body Snatchers”.  It’s certainly a different take on the concept and between the acting, settings and music, it most definitely sets an undeniably spooky tone.  Where it fails to grab the viewer, however, is in its seemingly emotional detachment.  Clearly, Alice is the protagonist in this story, but due to her dispassionate manner, it’s something of a challenge for the audience to get behind her.  The character almost appears to be heavily sedated from the very beginning. 

This is what makes Emily Beecham’s winning Best Actress at Cannes all the more baffling.  One theory could be that it was the actress’ choice to be more subdued because she was in fact a scientist.  That would be understandable but this makes the character less accessible than she would normally be if she exuded more warmth, more humanity.  While we see Alice change somewhat once she’s spent more time around the plant, the change is so subtle that it’s almost imperceptible.  Maybe that’s the point:  that people change over time, but only in the most nuanced ways.  Still, Alice is not always the easiest character for whom to root.     

Following the screening, there was an interview with director Jessica Hausner and actress Emily Beecham.  Hausner said that the inspiration for the story came from what she refers to as “The Frankenstein Myth” – that is to say, the creation that frees itself from its creator.  In this case, she sees the plant as the monster where Alice is the mother that is the creator of the child, which will eventually mature and free itself; neither the plant nor the child can be controlled.  The psychological component for Alice is that she’s questioning whether or not she’s a good mother.