In Waves · reception & legacy

How In Waves has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

It arrived in May 2026 as a Cannes history-maker — the first animated film ever to open Critics' Week — rode that buzz into Annecy's main competition, and got scooped up by Netflix out of the festival. Too new for a reappraisal arc; right now it's still in its honeymoon.

What's debated

The early split: is it a gorgeously drawn gut-punch or just a very pretty version of a story you've seen before — critics swooned over the Hockney-bright animation while some (IndieWire among them) found the tearjerker beats overly familiar.

Its footprint

It inherited the built-in following of AJ Dungo's 2019 graphic memoir — a book-club and comic-shop staple famous for making readers cry in public — and the film is already being passed around with the same warning label: bring tissues.

Where it stands

A brand-new entry in the 'animation for adults that will wreck you' shelf — the Cannes pedigree plus the Netflix release has it pegged as a future Letterboxd four-star weeper rather than a niche festival curio.

Named by the director

Influences Phuong Mai Nguyen has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

• David Hockney — Nguyen said the painter was her first reference on the project — warm, colorful compositions that still speak of loneliness and sadness, exactly how she wanted to draw a sun-drenched LA around a sad story.