{"id":5553,"date":"2024-02-08T13:40:51","date_gmt":"2024-02-08T19:40:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/watchinggod\/?p=5553"},"modified":"2024-02-08T13:40:51","modified_gmt":"2024-02-08T19:40:51","slug":"suncoast-coming-of-age-dramedy-with-heart-and-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/watchinggod\/2024\/02\/suncoast-coming-of-age-dramedy-with-heart-and-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"Suncoast: Coming-of-Age Dramedy With Heart\u2014and Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

""<\/a>

Nico Parker in Suncoast, photo courtesy Focus Searchlight<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

I really liked Suncoast<\/em>, a quirky coming-of-age dramedy hitting Hulu tomorrow. This semi-autobiographical dramedy from writer\/director Laura Chinn, has some great performances and real heart behind it. And I especially liked how it dealt with two oft-entangling issues: cultural warfare and quiet faith.<\/p>\n

And it uses one of the biggest flashpoints of America\u2019s so-called culture wars as its anchor. [Warning: The following contains some minor spoilers.]\n

"Doris<\/a>

Nico Parker and Woody Harrelson in Suncoast, photo courtesy Focus Searchlight.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\u2018Every Life is Precious\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Right off the bat, Suncoast<\/em> <\/a>introduces us to Doris (Nico Parker), a 17-year-old girl living in Clearwater, Florida, in 2005. Her brother, Max, is dying brain cancer, and for years he\u2019s been in a near vegetative state\u2014unable to walk or talk and (Doris believes) unaware of the world around him.<\/p>\n

Doris and her mother, Kristine (Laura Linney), have been caring for Max for years, and both have been twisted plenty by the experience: Kristine has given so much time and energy to her son that she\u2019s nearly forgotten about her daughter. And much of Doris\u2019 own tween and teen years were sacrificed in turn. She\u2019d love to be a normal teenager, but she even know what \u201cnormal\u201d looks like.<\/p>\n

But Kristine and Doris can\u2019t care for Max all alone anymore. It\u2019s time to move him to Clearwater\u2019s Suncoast hospice, where he can spend his last remaining weeks.<\/p>\n

But that hospice center holds another, more famous resident: Terri Schiavo<\/a>, center of a raging debate over euthanasia and disability rights.<\/p>\n

For those who might not be familiar with Schiavo, she was a real person. In 1990 at the age of 26, she suffered massive brain damage (due to cardiac arrest) and slipped into what doctors called a persistent vegetative state. Eight years later, Schiavo\u2019s husband petitioned the courts to remove her feeding tube\u2014a move blocked by Schiavo\u2019s parents. It opened a seven-year legal battle over the young woman\u2019s fate\u2014a battle that was nearing its end as the events of Suncoast begin.<\/p>\n

Schiavo\u2019s case attracted a lot of national attention, and the Suncoast hospice is protected by police and surrounded by protesters. One of those protestors\u2014Paul (Woody Harrelson)\u2014meets Doris by chance, and they soon find themselves talking.<\/p>\n

It seems that Paul\u2019s a Christian. The fact that he\u2019s there, trying to stop the courts from removing Schiavo\u2019s feeding tube, marks him as something of an activist, too. He calls Suncoast \u201cthat executional chamber\u201d and tells Doris repeatedly that \u201cevery life is precious.\u201d<\/p>\n

The film could\u2019ve stopped with its character development there. But instead of turning Paul into a stereotypical conservative culture warrior, as many a film might\u2019ve done, Suncoast<\/em> goes deeper.<\/p>\n

We learn that Paul lost his own wife to a brain aneurism. And when Doris talks about how she wishes her brother would just pass on\u2014how he\u2019d be happier and she\u2019d<\/em> be happier\u2014Paul tells her to not be so quick to wish him away. She doesn\u2019t know the vacuum such a loss can leave; she\u2019ll even miss taking care of him.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll miss everything,\u201d Paul says. \u201cAll the good, all the bad. Hell, especially<\/em> the bad. I\u2019d give anything to hear my wife yell at me for letting the mosquitos inside. Just to hear her, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

"Doris<\/a>

Nico Parker, Ella Anderson, Ariel Martin and Daniella Taylor in Suncoast, photo courtesy Focus Searchlight<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nDigging Deeper<\/strong><\/h2>\n*******
** Some reviewers have called Paul\u2019s role here as something of a subplot. But for me, his friendship with Doris really forms the core of the story here. Doris\u2019 dad died when she was 3. Her mom barely pays attention to her. Paul becomes really the only responsible adult in Doris\u2019 life\u2014and when Doris starts hanging out with a very fast crowd, he\u2019s sometimes the only tether that keeps Doris from flying off a metaphorical cliff. He\u2019s not just a guy shouting in the background during the evening news. He\u2019s grieving. He\u2019s passionate about the preciousness of life. And in Doris, he sees someone who could use a little bit of friendship. Maybe a little bit of hard-earned wisdom.<\/p>\n
** And for Suncoast\u2019<\/em>s viewers, Paul does something else, too: He reminds us that whatever we might initially think of the people we meet in the story, they\u2019re all people. They\u2019re complex. Complicated. Characters we might be inclined to stereotype take on new dimensions if we listen to them, give them a chance.<\/p>\n
** Kristine judges everyone harshly, from the \u201cplastic nurses\u201d to the unfeeling policeman guarding Suncoast. But the policeman is far from unfeeling, and the nurses prove to be just as flesh-and-blood as anyone. Doris\u2019 often shallow friends feel initially like cookie-cutter mean girls, always looking forward to the next party. But they\u2019re deeper than the movie lets on, and their friendship with Doris is real, too. Kristine, in some ways, is one of the easiest characters to write off at first. She makes it easy to do so, given how brittle and angry she is. But as Max\u2019s death creeps closer, Kristine gets softer. Just like us, she\u2019s been twisted by pain.<\/p>\n
** She tells a grief counselor about what it felt to give birth to Max, to think about what her first child would bring to her life. \u201cNow, I\u2019m waiting for him to leave, and I wonder what he\u2019s going to take from my life,\u201d she says. And (thanks to Linney\u2019s strong work) we feel Kristine\u2019s fear in that moment. Her pain. Her grief. The anger slips away.<\/p>\n
** *******And as that fury fades, something else takes its place: A hint of faith.<\/p>\n****

"Kristine<\/a>

Laura Linney in Suncoast, screen shot courtesy Focus Searchlight trailer<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nGrief and God<\/strong><\/h2>\n*********
** When Paul begins to talk with Doris, he notices she\u2019s wearing a shirt from her private Christian high school. He asks her if she\u2019s Christian.<\/p>\n
** \u201cNo, not exactly,\u201d Doris says. \u201cMy mom thinks that religion is b\u2014sh\u2013. No offense.\u201d<\/p>\n
** But Kristine, in her most vulnerable moment, finds herself in Suncoast\u2019s chapel. And for the first and last time, we see her cry. From then on, her appearances on screen are notable for Kristine\u2019s gentleness, not brittleness. She\u2019s at peace with herself, not at war with everyone else. And she expresses a belief that the dead don\u2019t truly leave. They\u2019re still around. They can still hear you.<\/p>\n
** And Doris can feel that sense of continuity, too.<\/p>\n
** *********\u201cHe died,\u201d Doris tells Paul at the end of the film. \u201cAnd it feels just like you said. But I think\u2014I know<\/em>\u2014that he\u2019s in a better place now. I know he\u2019s happier. He\u2019s free.\u201d<\/p>\n

"driving<\/a>*********
* Nico Parker and Laura Linney in Suncoast, photo courtesy Focus Searchlight<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nKnowing is Half the Battle<\/strong><\/h2>\n***
** One of my favorite parts of Suncoast<\/em> takes place in a classroom. Students in what appears to be a high school Christian ethics class are discussing the Terri Schiavo case\u2014debating whether Schiavo has a \u201cright to die\u201d or whether her husband has the right to pull the plug on her. When one of the students lets slip that Doris has an intimate familiarity with such issues\u2014that her brother is in the very same hospice as Schiavo\u2014all eyes turn to her, and she\u2019s asked what she thinks.<\/p>\n
** \u201cYou can\u2019t really answer those questions because you don\u2019t know,\u201d she says. \u201cYou don\u2019t know what\u2019s right or wrong until it happens to you. Like, we can say Terri\u2019s husband is a monster for wanting to let her die, or her parents are monsters for wanting her to live. But we don\u2019t know, do we? Because we\u2019re not them.\u201d<\/p>\n
** I don\u2019t think Doris is completely on point here. She suggests that we can\u2019t know what\u2019s right until we have a hands-on, intimate understanding of the issue. But that suggests that right and wrong is subjective, because when something \u201chappens to you,\u201d you might think and feel and act differently than I would. I believe that God\u2019s who we must rely on to understand right and wrong, because our own thoughts and feelings can be pretty fickle.<\/p>\n
** But she hits on something else here\u2014something important. Because in the context of the narrative, we don\u2019t know. We don\u2019t know why Paul was on that picket line unless we asked him. We don\u2019t know the depths of Kristine\u2019s sorrow and pain. We don\u2019t know the sorrow and anguish and doubt that maybe Terri Schiavo\u2019s husband and parents felt in trying to decide her fate.<\/p>\n
** Suncoast understands that\u2014which is why it focuses so much on bypassing stereotypes and getting to know the people underneath. Real justice and real grace start with knowing<\/em>. It involves looking someone in the eye. It involves way more listening than it does talking. We don\u2019t have to agree, but I think that, at our best, we must try to understand.<\/p>\n
** Suncoast<\/em> knows its own characters. And that makes it, in spite of its problems and shortfalls, a worthwhile watch.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
** *********I really liked Suncoast, a quirky coming-of-age dramedy hitting Hulu tomorrow. This semi-autobiographical dramedy from writer\/director Laura Chinn, has some great performances and real heart behind it. And I especially liked how it dealt with two oft-entangling issues: cultural warfare and quiet faith. And it uses one of the biggest flashpoints of America\u2019s so-called culture […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2036,"featured_media":5559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[365,3],"tags":[53,1000,26,48],"class_list":["post-5553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editors-choice","category-movies","tag-controversy","tag-culture","tag-faith","tag-hope"],"yoast_head":"\nSuncoast: Coming-of-Age Dramedy With Heart\u2014and Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Powered by some strong performances, Suncoast reminds us that every life is precious\u2014and very, very complicated.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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