Waves (Trey Edward Shults, 2019)

[domino harvey]

According to AwardsWatch forum members, It Comes At Night director Trey Edward Shults’ follow up Waves with Lucas Hedges and Sterling K Brown is a 3+ hour film allegedly reliant on a constantly-running collection of Kanye West songs tied to the action and dialog that the film has yet to secure the rights to...

[dda1996a]

I admire the man's ambitions, but I found his last pretty empty to entrust 3 hours of my life to him and a Kanye musical

[domino harvey]

It’s been submitted to Cannes, it sounds like exactly the kind of mess they sometimes love, especially given the bifurcated melodramatic plot

[hearthesilence]

Well, it can't be worse than Xavier Dolan. At least I hope not.

[Persona]

Aside from the length, I'm excited!

[Boosmahn]

I'll gladly spend 3 hours with the man who created Krisha. Kanye West, however...

[Persona]

If I can listen to MBDTF or Life of Pablo front to back and not regret it, this shouldn't be too much of an ask.

That said, the description in the OP does make it sound a tad bit insufferable. But I'm still excited. Krisha is just a phenomenal debut and I liked It Comes at Night more than your average movie joe, I guess. And I really like the cast he has in this one.

[mfunk9786]

I'm still pretty baffled by the description posted below and I suppose something that is so close to my interests is going to come down to the way it's executed, so I withhold judgment until it's something I can plunk down at a movie theater and see. Across the Universe turned out way better than I could have ever expected it to be in some ways, and way worse in others, to name one example that jumps to mind that I spent far too much time rolling my eyes at prior to release considering the pleasant 3-star movie that it turned out to be.

[domino harvey]

Here’s the plot description from AW, which contains a significant spoiler for the first half

SpoilerShow

The first half follows a misogynistic teen (Kelvin Harrison) who is consumed with rage when his wrestling career is cancelled, leading to him getting his girlfriend (Alexa Demie) pregnant and killing her when she gets an abortion . The second half follows his sister (Taylor Russell) falling in love with one of his teammates (Lucas Hedges) while the siblings' father (Sterling K. Brown) picks up the pieces.

[mfunk9786]

Unless Shults is constructing a Hold Steady-esque narrative thread through West's catalog to fit the ins and outs of that plot, which seems pretty unlikely since I can't really even imagine where he'd begin with that, it sounds like this won't exactly hinge on the way the songs fit the narrative itself, but the film's tone. That's a somewhat less tall order, and maybe it'll have as much relation to Kanye West's work as Harold and Maude does to Cat Stevens', etc, and the preponderance of his music on the soundtrack is being overstated as key to it working at all.

One thing's for sure, if West likes it I cannot imagine him not licensing his music for it. The guy a) could probably use the cash at any given time and b) is by all accounts a pop culture junkie who'll be completely flattered by the gesture.

[swo17]

Kanye West is nothing if not a reasonable man

[Persona]

if Kanye signs off on this it will generate its own publicity like gangbusters (especially with THAT plot, my God). A24 will barely have to lift a finger.

[Cremildo]

A rave from The Hollywood Reporter, and another one from Variety.

[kcota17]

And neither of those reviews mention Kanye at all so I’m guessing that aspect of the film is no longer existent.

[Never Cursed]

Also per Wikipedia the film is just 135 minutes, so either AwardsWatch was wrong or the film has been significantly changed from whatever it was at the start of the year

[Cde.]

Comments on a Letterboxd review from a test screening said that Kanye was playing constantly, so it seems like he ultimately refused to clear the rights. Reviews have mentioned the final version uses various artists e.g. Kendrick Lamar, Frank Ocean, Animal Collective and Radiohead.

[mfunk9786]

Much less interested now, I must say. Not just because I am a fan of West's music, but because there was surely a concept in place that has now been replaced with a 30 year old NPR donor's iPod shuffle

[Ribs]

There is still a single Kanye song. I don’t think it’s a rights things so much as the concept for the film’s music as a whole expanded and changed.

[Cde.]

It could be that Kanye didn't want to be so closely associated with this film but was fine with the standard media usage of his music. It was temp tracked with all Kanye, seems to be named after a Kanye song, and the crew were given t-shirts themed like the Yeezus tour merch.

Then again, this path is probably better for the initial reception, since people are more likely to focus on its plot, themes and visual approach rather than all of that getting drowned out by the weirdness of 'the Kanye movie'.

Ribs, did you see it, and if so, what did you think?

[Ribs]

No, I just know it’s only the one song.

[mfunk9786]

Then again, this path is probably better for the initial reception, since people are more likely to focus on its plot, themes and visual approach rather than all of that getting drowned out by the weirdness of 'the Kanye movie'.

I don't know - I think we need *more* weirdness in independent film, not less - I like it when filmmakers take a big swing even if they don't make contact

[Cde.]

Then again, this path is probably better for the initial reception, since people are more likely to focus on its plot, themes and visual approach rather than all of that getting drowned out by the weirdness of 'the Kanye movie'.

I don't know - I think we need *more* weirdness in independent film, not less - I like it when filmmakers take a big swing even if they don't make contact

Oh, I'm with you, but I don't think the masses are. Its hard to blame filmmakers for hedging their bets in the current economic climate of the industry.

[Never Cursed]

A (gorgeous) trailer

[mfunk9786]

God that looks good!

[Persona]

As a fan of Shults' first two pictures (especially Krisha), I was excited when I first heard about this project. Then the leaked plot description kind of threw me off. And now this trailer has me very much back on.

Looks (and sounds) sublime.