Substance abuse and mental health have been prevalent topics for the last few years, especially after COVID-19 happened. Many people were spreading awareness around mental stability, rights, substance abuse, and well-being. A 2019 A24 film, Waves, was recently added to Netflix. It is a coming-of-age film about a young man who is navigating his way through his senior year of high school with wrestling and his younger sister’s life after he was prosecuted for murdering his ex-girlfriend.

Background

The film’s beginning shows that the young man, Tyler, is an aspiring wrestler who has a vision of going to college to do wrestling. He seems to have trouble with his shoulder and sees a doctor. He gets told he needs to have surgery immediately or he will worsen his injury. He doesn’t contact his parents about the appointment and instead starts abusing his oxycontin painkillers as a way to relieve the stress of having the injury. This is an excellent example of why people taking strong medications like oxycontin need to be monitored with how much and how often using it. If Tyler had just spoken to his parents about how his injury made him feel, the rest of his story would have been different. Soon after, we see his girlfriend, Alexis, enter the story. They were portrayed as having a long-term relationship leading to the movie’s plotline. The film shows them hanging out and spending time together. Following this plotline, he finds out that she is pregnant. This only made his addiction worse. He started getting violent with her and started many arguments.

Conflicts

After many disagreements, Alexis finally tells Tyler that she wants to keep the baby. This makes Tyler spiral, which makes Alexis break up with him. The school ball was coming up soon, so Alexis took one of her guy friends to the dance. Tyler sees this on Instagram, takes more of his painkillers, and follows her to the after-party event. Tyler interrogates Alexis, thinking she is seeing the other guy when he is genuinely just a friend. Tyler refuses to believe her. He starts to hit her and ends up getting too strong and pushes her to the ground. He was most likely unaware of his strength because he was under the influence of the drugs he was taking. This ended up damaging her head and instantly taking her life away—many of the attendants of the after-party, including Tyler’s sister, Emily. By the time this happens, it is the middle of the movie, and we see him get sentenced to life in prison and at least 30 years before bail. This shows how Tyler’s life situations and drug addiction led him to become a very aggressive and inconsiderate person. The film immediately switches to Emily’s life after her brother’s sentencing.

The film shows how Emily’s mental health has been low since her brother hasn’t been a part of her life. She is seen as having no friends, and her parents also have difficulty managing the massive change in their household. She then meets this boy named Lucas outside of an audition. They become friends and end up liking each other. Emily and Lucas grab lunch after school, and they both open up to each other. Emily mentions how she had to delete social media because many people would send her hate messages about her brother and harass her for input on the situation. She mentions this took a toll on her mental health. Lucas ends up opening up about how his dad was a bad father and how he did terrible things to him and his mother. They both help each other when they feel bad about those situations. Lucas had mentioned his father was in the hospital with cancer and did not have much time left. Emily immediately tried to get Lucas to drive down there with her so that he could make amends with his father before it was too late. By the movie’s end, it is shown that Lucas has forgiven his father and feels much better seeing him. This, in turn, gives Emily peace in knowing that things can get better.

By the movie’s end, Emily is seen enjoying life and riding her bike on a sunny day and seems happier. This movie is very good at showing the good and bad aspects of adolescence and how it can shape the rest of your life.