Best known for her work in television, writer-director Laura Chinn (Pop TV’s Florida Girls) debuts her first feature Suncoast at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Set in 2005, the semi-autobiographical dramedy follows Doris (Nico Parker), a socially awkward teenager living a far from normal life in Florida. Instead of participating in any extracurriculars or socializing with classmates, she spends her time outside of school helping her overwhelmed mom Kristine (Laura Linney) care for her sick brother Max (Cree Kawa). They move him into Suncoast hospice, where he’ll spend his last months.
While the film dramatizes some elements of Chinn’s experiences, the deeply personal story is also set against the backdrop of a real-life right-to-die debate that dominated news coverage starting in the late 1990s. Terri Schiavo, a woman who was in an irreversible vegetative state after suffering a cardiac arrest in 1990, happens to be in the same facility. When they arrive, it’s anything but peaceful.
In a panel discussion with TheWrap, Chinn explained that it was “such a[n] odd, coincidental thing that I was going into this hospice to visit my brother but getting patted down for guns and bombs, dealing with all of this at the same time.” Due to the controversial case, the front entrance is always crowded with protesters and police, only adding to Kristine’s perpetual frustration.
The single mom is assertive, always frazzled, and tends to lash out. All of her compassion and love is directed at Max, even though she still has a living daughter. Considering she’s forced to watch her son slowly die, her behavior is understandable. However, Kristine is too preoccupied with him to truly care about Doris. More often than not, their interactions consist of her scolding the teenager for thinking about herself and things she deems frivolous.
As a young girl who’s lost relatives in the past, Doris is almost desensitized to the thought of death. She loves her brother but also longs to be normal like her peers. Like most teenagers, Doris wants to sit and watch TV (namely the early aughts reality classics The Hills and The Anna Nicole Show), have friends, and go to parties. But she lives a very different reality than the typical teenager and is easily embarrassed about it.
Kristen and Doris both have their moments when they’re (mostly) unintentionally cruel to one another because they don’t understand each other at all. It’s unfair of Kristine to get in the way of her living child having any semblance of normality. But Doris also doesn’t really consider all that her mother does, how it must feel to be losing a child and anxiously anticipating the end, all while working hard to provide for the family.
Taking advantage of her current living situation (Kristine sleeps at the hospice), Doris does the irresponsible thing and offers up her empty home as the new adult-free party spot for her classmates. She becomes fast friends with Laci (Daniella Taylor), Brittany (Ella Anderson), Megan (Ariel Martin), and Nate (Amarr), who introduce her to drugs, alcohol, and playing truth or dare in underwear. Doris’ excitement, awkwardness, and genuine happiness are so authentic to joining a new friend group, especially if you were previously friend-less.
Doris also begins an unlikely friendship with Paul (Woody Harrelson), one of the activists against pulling Shivo off of life support. He’s a widower who believes all life is precious. It’s hard not to love the always charismatic Harrelson, which he perfectly infuses in Paul, making him just as lively and positive as he is sometimes melancholic, a character who’s lived through a lot of pain but still sees joy in living. It’s a balance the actor always pulls off well and a welcome salve after the heart-wrenching scenes.
Chinn’s style is reminiscent of Greta Gerwig, Jason Reitman, and early Taika Waititi, specifically 2007’s Eagle vs Shark. Given the time period, it reminds me a lot of Hulu’s aughts-centric PEN15, especially the more heartfelt scenes between Maya and Anna. Anyone nostalgic for the early to mid-2000s will love the film’s throwback hits from artists like Weezer, Erykah Badu, and Christina Milian. Music supervisor Mary Ramos (Wu-Tang: An American Saga), along with composers Este Haim and Christopher Stracey (Cha Cha Real Smooth), used songs that perfectly captured the time, not to mention Megan Stark Evans’ (Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin) wardrobe choices. Crop tanks and baggy pants galore!
Suncoast tells the unique coming-of-age story of a teenage girl trying to live a normal life while being surrounded by death. Laura Linney and Nico Parker deliver strong, nuanced performances as a mother and daughter with a disconnected dynamic, struggling to deal with an impending loss. The film shows how everyone confronts mortality and grieves in their own way, whether it’s humor, anger, or avoidance.
Suncoast premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival on January 21. Laura Chinn’s Suncoast will be released in select theaters on February 2nd and will stream exclusively on Disney’s DTC platforms on February 9th as an Original Film on Hulu in the U.S.
