Waves review: An unflinchingly emotional tale from a director with an endlessly inventive approach

In the opening scenes of Trey Edward Shults’ emotionally draining family drama Waves, a teenage couple coast down a Florida highway, bopping their heads to blaring music, smugly sure of themselves and their love.

As they drive, Shults’ camera does a giddy 360-degree spin around the car and sweeps out on to the road ahead. It seems flashy but it’s a statement of intent: this torrid tale will be told from many viewpoints. As for the young lovers, they’re convinced that the world is their oyster, but are in for a rude awakening.

He is Tyler Williams (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), an African-American high school senior who’s been getting good grades and is the star of his high school wrestling team. She is Alexis Lopez (Alexa Demie), cheerleading queen bee and his obvious mate. They do seem to love each other, but neither have had much experience of adversity, and are ill-prepared when it inevitably arrives. The first mishap seems trivial, though not to Tyler: when he sustains a shoulder injury in training, a doctor tells him he must stop wrestling immediately and have an operation. He’s hoping to make the State team, so ignores this advice, redoubles his training and starts stealing his father’s painkillers.