One of the first tips anyone who wants to make a movie is given is to “write what you know,” and the result is that we have gotten a million coming-of-age movies from first-time filmmakers. There’s an incredible story to be found in Suncoast, the directorial debut of Clearwater-born Laura Chinn, but it’s buried beneath a coming-of-age story that feels far too familiar for its own good.
A semi-autobiographical story inspired by the filmmaker’s life, Suncoast follows a teenage girl who must deal with the usual anxieties of high school while her beloved older brother enters hospice. Like so many “personal” directorial debuts, it’s all a little indulgent, pandering, and sentimental, but it’s also consistently heartfelt.
Suncoast hits all of the familiar beats of the high school dramedy genre. The protagonist is forced to grow up too quickly because of a tragedy. But of course, she has the time for all the “things kids do,” like throwing house parties, playing drunken games of truth or dare, and buying fake IDs to sneak out to the club. It all just feels a little too familiar, and Chinn lacks the distinctive voice to justify the cliches.
Suncoast hits a lot of familiar beats, but resonates nonetheless
That being said, the film’s subplots about caregiving are much more compelling and are where much of its emotion comes from. There are some truly incredible moments in the story of the protagonist caring for her terminally ill brother, and had Suncoast focused more on these, it could have been excellent. Yet, it focuses more on the same coming-of-age cliches we’ve seen a hundred times before.
Chinn also struggles to make her lead characters effectively nuanced. The intention here is clearly for the mother-daughter relationship to be the same kind of frustrating but relatable dynamic we’ve seen in movies like Lady Bird. However, some of the decisions both characters make — and largely go without consequence — never allow the audience to rise above pity.
That being said, the actors make the most of the roles, largely thanks to some moving (if conventional) dialogue. Laura Linney shines with some of her monologues, in which she either scolds her daughter or expresses remorse for not being the mother she should have been. Woody Harrelson is solid as the father figure character, also providing some welcome comedic relief. The real discovery, though, is Nico Parker, who shows a surprising level of emotional maturity in her role.
Suncoast nails the aesthetics of the aughts, which is probably the most distressing sentence this writer has ever put into words, as it means that my childhood is now fodder for period pieces. Still, the soundtrack and costume design do an excellent job of transporting the viewer back a couple of decades. The one frustrating thing about the visuals is that the movie clearly uses South Carolina as a stand-in for Florida — a substitution any Floridian will immediately recognize.
Suncoast is a solidly made film, and it hits all of its emotional beats with relative ease, but it is disappointing to see the potential it had only to fall back on well-worn cliches. It’s still worth watching for its great performances and tender moments, but it’s unlikely to join the canon of classic coming-of-age stories.
Suncoast is screening at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, which runs January 18-28 in-person in Park City, UT and online from January 25-28.
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Rating: 7/10
