‘Suncoast’: First-time filmmaker’s coming-of-age tale is affecting
Laura Linney and Woody Harrelson help elevate drama debuting on Hulu
An emotional authenticity courses through the veins of “Suncoast,” the filmmaking debut of Laura Chinn.
That’s surely in part because the character-driven, coming-of-age film — a Searchlight Pictures release debuting this week on Hulu — is semi-autobiographical. Like the movie’s main character, Chinn as a teen who saw her brother, after a lengthy battle with cancer, be admitted into the same Florida hospice facility that then was home to Terri Schiavo, whose endof-life saga gripped the nation in the mid-2000s. Undoubtedly, it was the kind of regularly overwhelming experience that it proves to be for Doris, the relatable character portrayed in the film by Nico Parker.
Regardless, “Suncoast” suggests great promise for Chinn — an actress who’s appeared in episodes of several TV shows — behind the camera. Although it occasionally makes the everso-slight stumble, the film steadily builds to a climax likely to give the viewer a serious case of the feels.
In the film’s opening moments, Doris pushes her brother, Max (Cree Kawa), in his wheelchair from a pharmacy to the family’s modest home, where she pays him some attention before giving it all to the television. The teen soon flips to a news report about the state of the Schiavo case, in which the vegetative woman’s husband is fighting to have her feeding tube removed against the objections of her parents and others who’ve become consumed with the ordeal.
Doris’ mom, Kristine (Laura Linney), arrives home from work with food for Doris, and we quickly become aware of the tension that exists between them. As we will learn, Kristine’s son means more to her than anything else in the world, and she’s constantly frustrated by what she perceives as a lack of investment in him from his sister. Doris, meanwhile, feels incredibly neglected by her mother.
That tension only increases after Kristine moves her son into the Suncoast Hospice facility, where she is unimpressed by the ever-smiling
young head of nursing, Mia (Keyla Monterroso Mejia, “Curb Your Enthusiasm”), and driven mad by a noise in the room neither Doris nor we can hear.
When Kristine decides she’s going to start sleeping in her son’s room — she can’t bear the thought of not being with the young man when he leaves this
world — Doris sees it as a chance to make friends at her Christian high school, inviting some cool girls to have a just-canceled party at her house. They don’t know her name but are thrilled to take her up on the offer.
With the recently released musical version still swimming in your head, you worry you know where
this is all headed, but the trio of Brittany (Ella Anderson, “Henry Danger”), Laci (Daniella Taylor, “Grownish”) and Megan (Ariel Martin, “Zombies 3”) prove to be rather solid friends to Doris.
Similarly, you wonder what’s in store for Doris when she encounters Paul Warren (Woody Harrelson), a Christian who
has come to town to advocate for Schiavo along with other sign-wielding protesters outside Suncoast Hospice. Rest assured, though, they merely develop a sweet if also unusual friendship, with Paul trying to impart bits of wisdom on the girl. An endearing running joke in “Suncoast” sees Doris regularly taking their conversations to one depressing place or another, which Paul — who’s been through an ordeal himself — almost seems to appreciate.
As Doris tries to craft something vaguely recognizable as a normal teenage existence — which could include a romance with Nate (Amarr), a friend of the other girls whom Doris has admired in their ethics class, taught by the kind Mr. Ladd (Matt Walsh) — she constantly butts heads with her mother.