‘Waves’ is so much more than a tear-jerker

Bring your tissues to Trey Edward Shults new movie, which redefines vulnerability

What is the true meaning of vulnerability? It’s a question I debated with a group of friends while driving back from Joshua Tree last weekend (a trip which, I now feel the need to clarify, did not involve hallucinogenics…hi mom). We all acknowledged vulnerability meant something more than simply “sharing deep emotional things.”

The key distinction? Resolution. Talking about a tragedy, obstacle or an affliction is much easier once the problem has been solved, when we can cast ourselves on the back side of a heroic arc. To be vulnerable is to share that which is still unresolved, an admission that we don’t know how or when or even if we’ll come out on the other side.

Vulnerability is at the heart of Waves. I came in to the movie somewhat jaded by warnings of “you’re going to cry!” I anticipated a soapy tear-jerker, primed by the presence of Sterling K. Brown to expect something like his hit NBC show “This is Us.” That show might make you cry, sure, but in the end everyone will hug it out and everything will be tied up in a nice bow.

Instead I got a visceral experience, one that I’m not ashamed to admit left me in tears on three separate occasions during a…