Waves (Trey Edward Shults, 2019)

Discussions of specific films and franchises.
Message
Author
User avatar
Big Ben
Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2016 12:54 pm
Location: Great Falls, Montana

Re: Waves (Trey Edward Shults, 2019)

#26 Post by Big Ben » Sat Sep 07, 2019 12:56 am

In regards to the music Brian Tallerico notes in his four star rave that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross did the score for the film.

User avatar
therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Waves (Trey Edward Shults, 2019)

#27 Post by therewillbeblus » Sun Nov 03, 2019 1:09 am

A huge step up for Shults, whose first two films I greatly admired, but this is a a tour de force that breaks from the claustrophobia of his previous projects and projects that intimacy towards the macrocosm of our world. Shults starts off molding a dissection of the separate parts of the family system, and the consequences of poor communication and static dynamics disguised as supportive even to themselves, only to shatter this narrative in favor of universal grace half-way through. The second half opens the film up, broadening its scope to acknowledge, celebrate, and embrace the intensity of everything involved in life, from the individual to the collective, and even the cosmic levels.

Shults utilizes an uninhibited profusion of style in visuals and music not as a gimmick but to capture the intensity of seemingly all the possible emotional moments in life, from the isolative chaotic panic of unbearable stress to the blissful romantic instances of pure freedom and alleviation of baggage that comes from connection to anything outside of oneself. Love, hate, physiological sensations, grief, loss, communication, connection, disconnection, hope, resentment, forgiveness, trust, and more are presented to us through people of different ages and at various stages of life, from kids to adults, and the healthy to the dying. It’s like watching your favorite multi-character drama series condensed into a film relying on ultrasensory means to elicit the empathetic responses multiple seasons take to convey the same results. Words fail me for this one because its vastness serves as a canvas for one’s own experiences, in ways most movies have never been able to achieve, like a slightly more grounded Malick film (it should be no surprise that Shults was a crew member on several Malick films in the last decade). There are so many deep connections felt here, intertwining between those on screen, the audience and the milieu, and of course the audience to their own memories, that persist even when the characters we see are at their most withdrawn and alone. Is this movie about god- the tangible and inaccessible pains and glory beaming from its mysticism? I don’t know, but it’s a spiritual experience and one I can’t wait to have again.
DarkImbecile wrote:
Fri Sep 06, 2019 7:10 pm
Great performances all around, but while Kelvin Harrison Jr. will get a ton of attention for a flashier role and Sterling K. Brown will likely get an Oscar as a father whose faith in his own parenting and values are fundamentally shaken, I find myself thinking more of the quietly luminous work by Taylor Russell.
I vehemently agree with this. As far as I’m concerned, Taylor Russell is the heart and soul of the film by which all of the eclectic diversity in Shults’ milieu must orbit in order to work.

User avatar
DarkImbecile
Ask me about my visible cat breasts
Joined: Mon Dec 09, 2013 6:24 pm
Location: Albuquerque, NM

Re: Waves (Trey Edward Shults, 2019)

#28 Post by DarkImbecile » Tue Dec 10, 2019 7:55 pm

To close the loop on all the Kanye discussion from the previous page, here's a NYT piece on the film's music.
Kyle Buchanan wrote:The trickiest negotiations came when Shults sought clearance from Kanye West. The filmmaker is a big fan of the mercurial rapper — when “Krisha” was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award, Shults wore a shirt to the ceremony emblazoned with art from West’s album “Yeezus” — but clearing even one of his songs can be costly. “It was intense,” the director said.

After months of tenuous back-and-forth, West fired the management team handling the negotiation, and Shults had to start from scratch. Eventually, West sent word that he would approve only one song cue — “I Am a God,” which Shults hoped to play over a particularly fraught moment — with a unique complication: Since the rapper is currently turning his back on secular music, Shults would have to use a “clean” version of the song.

This proved easier said than done. “I don’t even know if a nonexplicit version exists,” Shults said, laughing.

As “Waves” neared its completion date, Poster and Currier raced to contact other artists who had a hand in West’s song, hoping that the rapper would eventually capitulate. “Until you clear the primary artist, you’re not going to get a response from the people who own 10 percent of the song,” Poster said. Fortunately, West eventually waived permission to use “I Am a God,” and the music supervisors managed to track down every other stakeholder, securing the song for a centerpiece sequence of the film...

User avatar
therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Waves (Trey Edward Shults, 2019)

#29 Post by therewillbeblus » Tue Dec 10, 2019 11:38 pm

Thanks for sharing that, glad it’s finally come to light! While we’ll never know how a full-Kanye soundtrack would’ve worked, I think the final product is better for implementing such an eclectic range of music. It fits with the ambitious scope of psychological, sociological, philosophical and spiritual space this films dares to occupy.

User avatar
kcota17
Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2014 9:05 pm

Re: Waves (Trey Edward Shults, 2019)

#30 Post by kcota17 » Wed Dec 11, 2019 1:00 am

At least wish that they could’ve cleared the obvious song “Waves” but oh well.

User avatar
Never Cursed
Such is life on board the Redoutable
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2016 12:22 am

Re: Waves (Trey Edward Shults, 2019)

#31 Post by Never Cursed » Wed Jul 15, 2020 1:56 am

Count me in with TWBB and DI - Waves is a magnificent film, and one that is doubly impressive for how confidently and effectively it marries its Malickisms and stylistic indulgences with the straightforward earnestness of its throughline. I see that a couple reviewers elsewhere have called this film “messy” (in both the positive and negative senses), but I think this descriptor could not be more inaccurate. Certainly this film puts a lot on the table stylistically (gorgeous saturated cinematography, camera changes, at least four different aspect ratios, the two duelling soundtracks), but in ways that accentuate and often bring ourselves uncomfortably close to the overwhelmingly emotional journeys of the characters. To tackle a question posed above, I wouldn’t go so far as to say the film is imposing a single type of religiosity onto the experiences of the characters here, but more that all those experiences and the meanings attached to them are the things that bring those people closer to their individual definitions of the spiritual.
SpoilerShow
Look, for instance, at the montage in the second half, when Lucas Hedges plays a religious Chance The Rapper song for Taylor Russell. Their dialogue makes it clear that she is a practicing Christian and he is not, and certainly the sequence is illustrative of the regrowth of her connection to the world and to feeling after the loss of her brother, but the music (and the sequence it plays over and represents) touches him as much as it touches her, and this moment leads directly into their first kiss (and an explosion of color used to signify a certain feeling of the spiritual). The song and the events of the montage move Hedges and Russell towards an immaterial feeling, one that each character internalizes in a different way, but which acts on a similar emotional level within them (hence the similar visual representations of these experiences for different characters through the film) and guides them towards similar actions (namely, of acceptance).
And maybe it’s just me, but I could not even imagine this being scored exclusively with Kanye songs, to the point where I question the veracity of the early reports on this film. Even if a lot about this changed from conception to release (and it seems some of it did, given how much of the published script is gone from the film), it was surely only for the better.

User avatar
therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Waves (Trey Edward Shults, 2019)

#32 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed Jul 15, 2020 2:09 am

Glad you enjoyed it so much! I agree that it's a spiritual expression, in all the specificity welcomed in the inherent broadness of the term, and would only refer to it as messy because it attempts to convey that untranslatable experience in a kaleidoscope that extends to every aspect of life. This film is like every feeling, event, memory, song, psychological episode, and interpersonal exchange of energy packed into a film, and instead of fusing them together, they're set free.

Post Reply