Coastal Review – Good Effort, Gains Traction after Slow Start

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Category: Indies, Docs, Foreign Film

Published on Thursday, 17 April 2025 10:33

Written by Janet Walker

Coastal, from Trafalgar Releasing, presents what promises to be an inviting, behind the scenes, road trip concert film, pairing the iconic Neil Young with the beauty of the California coast, loses direction out of the gate.

The documentary, shot by Young's wife, Daryl Hannah, is entirely in black and white, until the last seconds of the credits. With the incredible beauty of the California coast, this choice is challenging to understand, as the coastline would entice viewers, drawing them into the scenery and action of the film.

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As Coastal is her seventh film Hannah turns her vision to husband, Neil Young, capturing him, as she knows him, in these days and times, and rarely ventures into the seasons that catapulted him to fame and a musical influencer of the 1960s and 1970s generation.

The three shows, and maybe six songs that are recorded, only one invokes the memories many of the audiences would connect, "Comes a Time," and a new song, "Love Earth," a catching tune, easy to remember, and presents his views on the hope of this generation to reverse the damage done to the planet. The audience joined in and kept time without knowing the tune. It was a nice moment.

The thrill of a road trip down the California coast and into the interior was stunted by the black and white choice as some of the scenery is breathtaking. Having the camera positioned facing the bus driver, the front passenger "king" seat, and the traffic, brought the viewer along as passengers on this journey.

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The first stop was the Hollywood Bowl, and again, the black and white stunted the opportunity to turn this scene into a California's dreamscape for those who many never experience moments like these, as did the San Diego concert. Hannah is rarely seen, although Young is often affectionate and appears to be completely in love with her. His son, Ben, is also seen, in several takes and Young is equally affectionate with his son.

What we do see on each stage is an accomplished musician, enamored with musical instruments, and his ability on the harmonica is impressive. Obviously he is a dedicated craftsman, able to play multiple harmonica's, (who knew different harmonica's had different sounds), as we often see a rack of at least eight different sized harmonicas. A stage of his personal instruments, from his pawn shop pipe organ to the refurbished charred nine foot baby grand piano he picked up along the way.

Hannah's debut effort to present the new Neil Young, missed the mark on what the audience would want to see. While she captures him now, with the songs that resonate with her, the songs that resonate with the global audience are his more familiar tunes, which are probably played during he concert just not used in the documentary.

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Hannah shoots Coastal in cinema verite style, which emphasizes capturing real-life events with minimal interference from the filmmaker, and using a handheld camera, natural lighting, and unscripted situations to document everyday life and social issues. This is done well.

As it is an accomplishment whenever a film is made, and distributed, Coastal, for fans of Neil Young, will definitely be added to their collections, but for widescale and concert films that are following on the successes of others, Coastal took the wrong direction as even in the name of the documentary invokes visions of beauty, which just aren't realized with the color palette choices. As a biopic, Young deserved better.

Coastal premieres for a one night only global theatrical experience.  Save it for streaming.

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Country: U.S.

Language: English.

Runtime: 105 minutes.

Director: Darryl Hannah.

Producer: Gary Ward.

Cast: Neil Young, Bob Rice, Jerry Don Borden with cameos from Joni Mitchell, Lukas Nelson.

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade.  A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays, "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She is completing the non-fiction narrative, "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," which is expected to be released in early 2025. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a former member of the International Federation of Journalists.