Picture Credits: Getty Images / Netflix
In Waves is a movie that looks bigger than it is. Currently showcasing at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and positioning itself as one of Netflix’s prime animated Oscar hopefuls, the feature—based on AJ Dungo’s graphic novel and own story of love and loss—is grand in honest emotion and visual splendor. The latter, on a technical level, was a Rubik’s cube for director Phuong Mai Nguyen and the animators to conquer.
Water is always a challenge for animators. It’s constantly moving, of course, and wildly unpredictable. Plus, in In Waves, the water needed to express the journey between its two characters: young artist AJ (Will Sharpe) and the surfer he shares a deep love with, Kristen (Stephanie Hsu), who’s battling cancer.
During the Toronto Film Festival, Mai Nguyen told What’s on Netflix: “From the first day that I worked on the project, I was thinking, okay, the water and the surfing scenes are going to be our big challenge. Adapting waves into an animated movie, when you’re talking about water to animators, we’re like, ‘Oh, that’s a lot of work.’”
Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for IMDb
It’s an independent film, which Netflix acquired after the riveting audience and critical response at the Cannes Film Festival. We previously covered the feature back in June from Annecy, where it similarly showcased and had a major presence alongside movies like Ray Gunn, Steps, and Charlie vs. The Chocolate Factory. That’s where we published our review of the movie alongside a deep-dive interview with the creative team.
“We’re also a very indie, low-budget movie, so that was another challenge to think about,” the filmmaker added, “because we couldn’t have very realistic CGI rendering for the waves and stuff like that. But somehow, I felt like it was a motivation for me to push forward toward something more creative.”
Which started with pen and paper. “So I looked up references, and I drew a lot, too, with my team,” she continued. “We did a lot of drawings before we started the movie, and it helped us figure out the look that we wanted for the waves and also for the entire film.”
The great challenge of animating water was actually a part of the appeal for Mai Nguyen, whose career began as an animator and background artist. “One of the things that I really like about water is that it’s always changing,” she said. “It can capture the lighting of the sky. If the sky is blue, the water is kind of like a mirror of the blue sky. Or when it’s sunset, it’s changing and shifting toward something more pink and things like that. It was a very cool playground as an animator and artist.”
The ocean needed to run deep. Not just literally. “The ocean is symbolizing the characters’ feelings and their journey and what they are going through,” Mai Nguyen continued. “It’s not only a background, but it becomes that thing that really embodies the theme, from the first frame to the ending. The waves are there. You start with the waves and you end with the waves.
“It was a big part of the process,” the director concluded, “and I was happy to go through that challenge.”
Picture Credit: Netflix
Picture Credit: Netflix
Picture Credit: Netflix
In Waves debuts on Netflix on December 11th.
