To explain much of the plot of Waves would be a disservice. Even a quick description of writer/director Trey Edward Shults’ story—a uniquely American, character-driven drama about a Florida family’s idyllic bubble bursting—feels like too much of a reveal. As with its title, you need to give yourself over to the film’s turbulent narrative and see where it takes you. The immersiveness of Waves is heightened by its structure: Cinematographer Drew Daniels’ vaporous camera movements and splashy colors combine with a distorted score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, and Shults and editor Isaac Hagy find the perfect rhythm keep the film flowing so smoothly that 135 minutes breeze by. What lingers the longest is the work of the actors playing the family at the center of Waves: Sterling K. Brown, Taylor Russell, Kelvin Harrison, Jr., and Renée Elise Goldsberry hit every beautiful, ugly emotion, straight and true.