‘Suncoast’ Review: Laura Chinn’s Feature Debut Is a Heartfelt Story About Grief
Nico Parker, Ella Anderson, Ariel Martin and Daniella Taylor in SUNCOAST. Photo by Eric Zachanowich. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2023 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
Last year, the highlight of the Sundance Film Festival was Celine Song’s semi-autobiographical film Past Lives (which went on to top my list of 2023 movies), a film that told a story personal to the writer-director — and because it was something that came from her own experience, it was so much more impactful. This year’s response may not be as airtight, but Laura Chinn’s formidable debut feature Suncoast tries its best to live up to that legacy.
Set in Clearwater, Florida, 2005, this story is also too personal to Chinn, who wrote and directed the film. Doris (The Last of Us star, and the other driving force behind the film, Nico Parker) is 17 and has been taking care of his sick brother for years while their mom is away trying to work so they can stay financially afloat. It’s no secret that Kristine (Laura Linney) loves his dying son a lot more than she cares for Doris, and they all know it. One day, they just decide it’s best to put him in a hospice so he can die peacefully whenever he’s ready — at this point, his brain cancer has spread too far and has blinded him and removed most of his bodily functions. Meanwhile, Doris, sort of tired of dedicating her teenage years to someone who isn’t going to be with her for long (if he’s even still there), just wants to fit in with her classmates. Make friends. Be normal.
The film is a poignant story about clinging to our loved ones while they’re still here, and whenever Suncoast dedicates itself to that message, it’s firing on all cylinders. The reason why is not a secret: it’s a story coming directly from Chinn’s experience, and it comes across as honest and genuine as it was intended. Parker does an outstanding job representing the frustrating dichotomy of her character, someone who loves her brother but also hates him because of how much he’s holding her back. Has she already accepted that one day, she will be free and not have to worry about him anymore, or is that the curse that is chasing her through life in this small town?
A plethora of ethics questions all appear in her mind and she kind of has answers to all of them, but none of them are definitive. As the film progresses, she reexamines everything she thought she knew — giving her, you know, an arc. This is also represented in her ethics class, taught by Mr. Ladd (Matt Walsh), but that’s also where the script starts to run thin. Whenever it’s about Doris and her grief, both current and impending, the movie thrives. However, its unwillingness to take a stand on some of the larger ethical issues that are brought up also holds it back. In many ways, Chinn was the best person to tell this story; in others, she was maybe unwilling to or incapable of digging too deep into her soul.
Woody Harrelson and Laura Linney in SUNCOAST. Photo by Eric Zachanowich, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
This is best illustrated through the character of Paul, played by the ever-present Woody Harrelson — though it could have just as well been a well-done edit from any other film of his. It’s so obvious the character was written for him that Chinn kind of forgot to give him something to work with, and it is at this point where the film suffers the most. He’s still mourning his own wife, and he reflects that by joining a protest at the hospice’s doorstep regarding the real case of Terry Schiavo, a woman whose life was being artificially prolonged while her husband argued for her to die peacefully by disconnecting her feeding tube. Paul, an advocate for life, argues that hers is as worthy as anyone’s and that she has a right to it, even in the state she’s in. But how this factors into Doris’ arc and her need to reconnect with her brother, even in the dire state he’s in, is not very compelling.
Regardless of the characterization flaws that the script introduces, I can’t deny the fact that the emotional weight of the story got to me, and the poignant punchline presented in the third act truly worked. For that reason, I strongly recommend Suncoast, which felt unique enough despite its shortcomings. Take the relationship between Doris and Kristine, a love-hate relationship between a young adult and her mother, who can’t see eye to eye yet would go to great lengths for one another. Or would they? The hate part often comes up stronger than the love. Parker’s performance is the true standout of the film, though Linney certainly doesn’t fall behind. In a similar way to how Lady Bird succeeded in making the relationship between mother and daughter feel authentic, Suncoast portrays it with similar raw passion but in a very different light.
At its core, when Suncoast is not focused on grief and pain, it’s also a coming-of-age story for Doris, who is able to connect with some classmates for the first time when her mom decides she’ll spend the nights at the hospice and leaves the teenager at home by herself. Her teen friends would have come across as cruel and the ultimate antagonists of the film in any other story; yet Chinn’s own experience informed her otherwise. In her unique take (at least by Hollywood standards), which rang true for me, teenagers are not mean. They are immature at best, but when push comes to shove, they know that there are things that they don’t quite understand yet, but know what friendship looks like and what they want from it. (They are played by Ella Anderson, Daniella Taylor, and Ariel Martin.)
There’s also a mishmash of tones that might feel awkward to some viewers given the heaviness of the themes explored in the movie, but that really worked for me. At the end of the day, it’s a film more preoccupied with celebrating life and the connection we have with our loved ones than it is about longing for those who are gone — even if it still finds some time for them. It’s a call to arms to reconnect with those who may not be as present in our lives but also to appreciate those who still are. Paul’s wife died the night after the two created a beautiful memory, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t hate the fact that she’s gone. But at least he now has that in his mind forever.
Suncoast will start streaming on Hulu on Feb. 9, after debuting at the Sundance Film Festival.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
