It Comes In Waves is a sincere and often powerful film about the afterlife of genocide, displacement, and familial trauma. Its atmosphere is intensely oppressive, its thematic focus urgent, and its formal choices are effective in conveying anguish and entrapment. At times, however, this intensity becomes excessive, making parts of the film feel almost tiring over the course of more than an hour. If some performances and relationships lack the depth needed to fully realize the emotional complexity of the material, the film nevertheless remains a serious and affecting attempt to give form to the ongoing reverberations of historical violence..