'Waves', while certainly ambitious, is so busy trying to be a future indie classic with its camera acrobatics and needle drops that it forgets to give any impetus to care about the supposedly profound stories it's trying to tell, instead coasting on its stylistic flairs and hoping these will distract from how shallow its writing is, making the 135-minute run time incredibly laborious. By his own admission, Shults modelled his film on the two-part structure of Frank Ocean's 'Blonde', an album which is featured prominently in the film. What audiences get instead is the cinematic equivalent of putting the album on while having a cry in the shower, a deep dive into misery porn, yet 'Waves' is a far less rewarding experience than just doing the real thing yourself.
- Ashley Teresa
Read Ashley's full article... https://www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-waves-high-school-misery-porn-drowned-by-its-aesthetic