Set in the early 2000s, It Comes In Waves follows a high school track star, Akai (Adrian Walters), as he navigates life after his mother, Sonia (Olunike Adeliyi), suffers a decline in health.  This would be set up enough, but Akai and Sonia emigrated to Canada after fleeing the Rwandan genocide, a terrible series of events that hangs over both of their lives like a dark cloud.  The only one free from that history is Akai’s sister Zera (Nendia Lewars), who was born after they arrived in Canada. 

The film is a fascinating look at intergenerational trauma.  Sonic and Akai have both witnessed horrors and have fallout to deal with as a result.  Sonia sinks further into depression and alcohol, and he has nightmares every night.  As the story becomes more desperate and Akai is put under more and more pressure, the collision of his supposedly idyllic new life in Canada and his unresolved PTSD come to a head in dramatic, occasionally heartbreaking fashion. 

The big story here is Adrian Walters, a young talent for all to keep an eye on.  Akai’s inner life is a storm of conflicting emotions that Walters expertly holds in his eyes and wears on his face and in his body language.  This is a young man wound tight and ready to snap, and whether it will be anger, violence, or tears that follow, you are never quite sure until it’s happening.  Some of his best scenes are shared with Mckenzie Small playing another teenager staying at the same hotel who has endured hardships of her own growing up in Canada, and the contrast of their traumas is deeply affecting. 

Director Fitch Jean and writer Sammy Mohamed have crafted a beautiful story in It Comes In Waves, an apt title for the kind of PTSD that the characters are dealing with and the world they are trying to navigate.  Combined with Walters’ performance, It Comes In Waves is one of the more exciting films playing at the Canadian Film Fest. 

---

It Comes In Waves