The Wave (2019)

Directed by: Gille Klabin | 84 minutes | science fiction thriller | Actors: Donald Faison, Tommy Flanagan, Justin Long, Sheila Vand, Katia Winter, Bill Sage, Sarah Minnich, Ronnie Gene Blevins, Monique Candelaria, Blythe Howard, Jocelyn Montoya, Mark Teich, Jacob Browne, Phil Duran, Carl W. Lucas, Denise Gurule, Tommy Dickie

A movie starring Justin Long arouses curiosity. When this actor can be seen in a supporting role, the result is often more than nice. For example, the actor was on a roll in the bizarre and grotesque ‘Tusk’ and attracted attention with ‘Jeepers Creepers’. The skinny American has once again landed a leading role in a cult film. This time in ‘The Wave’ by debuting director Gille Klabin. This film won’t win him hordes of fans because it’s too cult, but his loyal followers will certainly love this vehicle.

In ‘The Wave’ Long plays corporate lawyer Frank. This man is struggling with himself, his marriage and his job. When a colleague drags him to a party, Frank decides to take drugs. He gets into a bad trip and wakes up in the hospital. Because our antihero doesn’t know what happened, he looks for leads to find out what happened. That provides a lot of special insights.

What makes this film so interesting is its unpredictability. The less you know about the plot, the better. Long is on a roll as the slightly goofy Frank who doesn’t quite know what to do with his life. His marriage is not too good and he feels trapped in a hopeless existence. Problems that many people face. Long has a sympathetic appearance and portrays Frank as an empathetic character. Despite the limited budget, Klabin really enjoys the hallucination scenes. Although these passages are not always convincing, it is to the credit of the debutant that he dares to do this and is not stopped by the small budget.

Fans of somewhat psychedelic science fiction will surely have fun with this quirky film. ‘The Wave’ looks nice and is well put together. It is a modest film by an ambitious director. Curious what Klabin will come up with next time.