Short answer
The main themes: the pressure a parent puts on a child to succeed, how that pressure turns into rage and addiction, the effect of one act on everyone around it, grief, and forgiveness. The first half is about how a tragedy happens; the second is about what love does after it.
1. Pressure from a parent
Ronald trains with Tyler, sets his goals and tells him he cannot afford to be average. Shults says the score cue Odds Against follows the father and son confrontation and parental pressure "drawn from" his own history (A24 playlist notes). The pressure is loving and crushing at the same time.
2. Hiding pain
Tyler hides a serious shoulder injury so he can keep wrestling, then hides the drinking and drug use that follow. Every secret raises the stakes. The plot summary lays out the chain of events behind spoiler warnings.
3. One act, many lives
Spoilers How the turning point spreads
The tragedy in the first half ends one life, takes away another, and leaves two families broken. The second half follows the people around the act, not the act itself: Emily, Luke, the parents.
4. Grief
Shults describes the score cue Wounds Heal as getting into Emily’s isolated grief, with the piano theme as her spirit reaching through (A24). The second half slows down, the colors cool, and the music thins out until the first non-score song, Glenn Miller’s Moonlight Serenade.
5. Forgiveness
Spoilers How the film resolves it
Luke forgives his dying father; Emily tells her own father she resents Tyler and feels guilty, and they reconcile. Shults ties the cue Leaving Missouri to death and forgiveness. See the ending explained.
How the film shows it
- Structure: two halves with two leads, Tyler then Emily.
- The frame: the aspect ratio narrows as Tyler’s world closes in and opens back up for Emily (ASC). Full breakdown.
- Music: 39 cues chosen to track feelings, not just set a mood. Every song and its scene.
Questions people ask
What is the message of Waves?
That a family can survive the worst thing that happens to it, but only through honesty and forgiveness. The film ends on Emily choosing to forgive and on a father admitting his part.
Why is the movie called Waves?
Shults has not given a single answer that we could source. The film opens and returns to the ocean, its emotions rise and fall in two halves, and the music moves like a playlist; viewers read the title through all three.
Sources
Last reviewed October 29, 2026. Streaming catalogs and listings change; check the service before you pay.