Suncoast

this movie was absolutely beautiful. it's an emotional coming-of-age film surrounding glass child doris who struggles to balance her emotions when dealing with a terminally ill brother and (situationally) neglectful mother. this is the first time in a while that i've cried watching something because doris feels so real. she has flaws, she says awful things that she doesn't mean yet we as the audience can still understand that she's a good but misunderstood person; so i think the director did a very good job with that. doris' relationship with her mother is complicated. her mother is neglectful but her reasoning is almost understandable. i mean, her son's dying and there's nothing they can do about it, and in her eyes her daughter doesn't care and would rather just party with her friends. and while i don't approve of how she treated doris, i understand her character and what grief can do to a person, specifically the loss of child. her situation was unique given that max was in hospice and the entire movie is set around them just waiting for the day he would pass. seeing doris and her mother fight and argue the entire film knowing that they were both dealing with the same thing, just in different ways, was very heartbreaking in a way i didn't expect. people talk about "mommy issue" movies all the time but never include this one but they really should. i also want to talk about doris' friends, (not sure if this counts as a spoiler but be warned regardless). they're party animals, get fake ids, drink and smoke, and are what you (and doris' mother) would consider to be bad influences. and while that may be true, to me their love and care for doria (with the exception of baby ariel's character) is very clear and it just made me happy to see because usually in these types of movies, that sort of friend group is ditched halfway throughout the movie for a more homebody/relaxed one if you get what i mean. i think it emphasizes the theme in this movie of the duality of teenagers, how they're not always one sides and things aren't just black and white. i was going to give this movie four stars, maybe four and a half, but i ended up bumping it up to five because the ending resonated with me so much. nico parker is an amazing actress and i can't wait to see her in more films.