Filmmaker Trey Edward Shults Explores Family Tragedy in ‘Waves’

“Find some love and hope and all of that beautiful stuff.”

By Laura RiceNovember 22, 2019 1:01 pm,

In his new film “Waves.” Texas filmmaker Trey Edward Shults combines personal experiences with fictional narratives to tell the story of a family in the aftermath of a tragedy. The film set in theaters on Nov. 15.

The young writer and director grew up in Spring, Texas, outside Houston. Shults began making films with his first feature, “Krisha”, and a horror film, “It Comes At Night.” This time, Shults says he focused on the wide range of human emotions to connect with the audience.

“It’s an epic family drama about the highs and lows of life and love and everything in between,” Shults says.

Kelvin Harrison Jr., Taylor Russel and Sterling K. Brown play a family grappling with one of life’s darker moments. Harrison was featured in Shults’ last film. He played a collaborative role with Shults in creating “Waves.”

Shults says the audience should expect heart-wrenching scenes, but they reflect human resilience.

“The movie does go to some dark places, but it’s about understanding how you get to those dark places,” Shults says. “Hopefully they’ll push you on the other side of it and try to heal again and find some love and hope and all of that beautiful stuff.”

Shults encourages people to see “Waves” in a theater, because the film is more emotional than typical superhero movies are.

“It’s a heavy movie, but it’s also at times light and beautiful. It’s like the range of emotions. It’s a very human film. We need to be seeing movies like this in theaters. It’s not all just superhero movies,” Shults says.

 

Written by Libby Cohen.