This article contains spoilers for the “Suncoast” movie.
“Suncoast” is about a teen girl who lives with her single mother. Her brother has cancer and cannot move or talk. They then take him to a specialized clinic, Suncoast, to care for the brother until he dies. The daughter tries to handle her brother being on his deathbed and tries to make friends. She makes a friend of an old man who is a protester right outside of Suncoast.
In the beginning, my first impression of the mom was not great. I understand that one of her kids needs extra care and cannot take care of himself, but that is not an excuse to lash out at the other and take the other kid’s childhood. The mother seems very mean and uncaring towards the daughter, Doris, and forces her to ride in the back of the truck in the truck bed with a metal wheelchair just to make sure it does not fall off.
It seems that Doris is less of a daughter and more of a mother, always taking care of the brother and helping him instead of being able to live her life. I did find it weird when an old man, Paul, came up and talked to Doris, paid for her meal, and then sat down with her.
I hated the part when the mother decides to start sleeping at Suncoast and leaves her daughter at home alone. Even though the brother would have caretakers 24/7, she still decided that it was a better idea to sleep there than to stay at home with her daughter who she already does not have a great relationship with. Whenever Doris expresses how she wants her mom to be there for her, the mother gets angry and always brings up the brother. Throughout the movie, Doris acts more mature than her age, and in the rare moments in which she acts her age, her mother gets mad and defensive.
The mother walks in on Doris having a party and instead of grounding her and understanding she is a teen, she forces Doris to sleep beside her brother, who is on his deathbed. Paul is more of a parent to Doris than her mother, cheering up Doris and giving her advice all while the mother keeps yelling and being in denial that her son is going to die. I understand the mother in the sense that while her son is dying, Doris is out partying, but she has to understand that Doris is seventeen and a teenager. She should not be left alone to care for herself for days.
I do not understand the comedic value of the movie – this is a movie about serious things that actually happen and yet critics think it is comedic and funny. I cried when the brother died. Not once in this movie did I laugh. There is no comedy in this movie whatsoever.
The acting in the movie is impeccable. It is very realistic and the emotions the actors have aren’t exaggerated too much. It feels like that’s what it would look like if that was a real life scenario. The emotions look very genuine and really sells the act that this is real life.
The sets created for the movie are realistic besides the scenes where the mother is on the bench outside in the back on Suncoast with the therapist, the background looks still and I feel it would look more real if there was a bird or two flying. The background noise does not go with the background but it is just a small detail that would go unnoticed by a lot of people.
Overall, the movie is really good and the acting is impeccable, but I think calling it a comedy is very misleading. I give it a 4.2/5 stars.