Suncoast

As "Suncoast" (2024 release; 109 min.) opens, we are in "Clearwater, Florida", and highschooler Doris and her mom are transferring Doris' brother into a hospice facility called Suncoast, by happenstance the very same one where the Terri Schiavo drama is playing out. Doris is stressed out by her hard-charging mom and the overall situation... At this point we are 10 minutes into the movie.

Couple of comments: this is the directing debut of actress Laura Chinn, who in essence is bring her own story to the screen. Laura Linney plays the mom who is, let's just say, not a very likeable character. Woody Harrelson plays Paul, an well-meaning eccentric who befriends Doris. British actress Nico Parker ("The Last of US") plays Doris. The film is not bad, but suffers from a rather uneven script, going on a dime from a "Mean Girls" reminding scene into dealing with life-ending situations. I had forgotten all about the Terri Schiavo situation, which made national headlines in the early 00s.

"Suncoast" premiered a few weeks ago at the Sundance film festival, and is now streaming on Hulu, where I caught it a few evenings ago. If you are in the mood for a coming-of-age while also looking at how to deal with loss, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

I wish first-time director and writer Laura Chinn could have taken greater risks with this 2024 coming-of-age drama because it felt heartfelt yet fairly predictable. It's a highly personal story set in 2005 based on Chinn's own adolescent experience of losing her teenage brother to cancer. Her fictional stand-in is Doris, a withdrawn and resentful teen constantly reprimanded by her emotionally exhausting mother Christine, who decides to move her comatose son to hospice care as he slowly succumbs to brain cancer. It turns out to be the same hospice facility where Terry Schiavo is under care, and right-to-life protestors surround the building under the scrutiny of the media. Laura Linney plays Christine as almost an older version of her controlling character in the memorable "You Can Count on Me", but she's more fearless here in her monomaniacal devotion to her son. Still, it's Nico Parker who carries the film as Doris nicely conveying both preternatural maturity and gawky angst as a social outcast looking to fit in with her new friends. Woody Harrelson plays a protestor who bonds with Doris, but the Schiavo parallels are largely unexamined and consequently Harrelson is used more as an incidental father figure.

Right now this movie is scoring 6.7 and I'm not sure why isn't higher.

I was so impressed with Laura Linney from the get go and her scenes with Nico Parker were often overwhelming given how good they were.

Nico, keeps the ball rolling. And it's a heavy ball so props to her.

Woody Harrelson does.. what he does and he does more than fine.

I think it was a sweet, subtle, solid rendition of a weird coming of age story. Esteeming from a very dysfunctional situation for any teenager but that really shines through the observation of the mother figure and the absurdity of having to deal with life in those terms.

Life is full of highs and lows, emotions are constantly in flux, and it isn't always so cut and dry on how we should be feeling. Suncoast captures those feelings while reminding us of the coming-of-age issues we've all faced. Semi-autobiographical, the director/writer based the story around her youth and her family's experiences in the early 2000s. With illness, protests, and the challenges of growing up, Suncoast brings its audience on an all-too-real journey.

Growing up in Florida, Doris (Nico Parker) and her family are in the midst of a personal tragedy. Her brother Max (Cree Kawa), suffering from brain cancer, is left in an unresponsive state, having to be cared for by his sister and mother, Kristine (Laura Linney). Admitting him to the Suncoast hospice facility, Kristine loses herself in her son's illness, as Doris makes attempts to explore her youth. With Max being cared for in the same facility as Terri Schiavo, the protests and national news loom throughout the background of their lives. Craving a 'normal' childhood, Doris is torn between her two worlds, standing at a crossroads in her life.

At the beginning of a blossoming career, Nico Parker skillfully tackles the emotional challenges of her complex character. Exploring teenage escapades, she expresses a realistic sense of wonder, while balancing it with the emotional toll she faces from her brother's illness. Echoing that heavy toll, Laura Linney adds dramatic layers to her intense performance as a mother, grieving her son before he passes. Adding levity to the emotional tale, Woody Harrelson acts as a friendly face, coping with his own underlying trauma. Through delightful and relatable performances, the cast elevates each other, as they bring the director's experiences to the cinema.

Recently, I had the pleasure of attending the Suncoast Letterboxd Q&A early screening with director/writer Laura Chinn. During the session, Chinn revealed that while writing the film in 2018, Nico Parker was her original model for the character of Doris, though too young for the role. Throughout the long production, Parker eventually aged into the role which fulfilled Chinn's initial vision. Additionally, Chinn expressed that she hopes her representations of grief can relate to viewers and help people in similar circumstances.

Capturing the director's challenging story, Suncoast provides a meaningful glimpse into her life, while respectfully honoring her brother's battle with cancer. The performances of the cast carefully work to deepen the issues and bring relatability to the character's journeys. Though emotionally heavy, Suncoast excels at crafting a balance between grief and youthful adventure.

As someone who was coming of age in this time frame, I felt that the director nailed it. The casting was realistic, raw, and told an important story within a story. I disagree with the other reviewer who said that the script was afraid to go deep and remained cliché. There are not enough movies like this. Everything is trying to preach to us nowadays and that's not what this was - and its refreshing. If you look at the parallels between the ethics class and the statement made by Doris, about only understanding ethics or knowing what we believe when we are actually in that moment is so true. There is so much empathy for the character of the mother, but more so for the character arc of the daughter. Remembering what it would be like to be 17-year-old not wanting to miss out on all the important things to an average teen, but also having to deal with end of life is just something that may not resonate with everyone but its a human story. And you don't have to agree with the issues, but you have empathy for the character and nonetheless.