Coastal Elites (2020)

Coastal Elites is potentially the first COVID film, a movie that consciously speaks to the specific moment of living through the global pandemic. Filmed as five "confessions" with actors each alone in a room facing the camera, talking to an unseen listener (us) often through an online portal. I know many reactions have been negative just for this fact. I appreciated that it attempted to capture this moment and experience. 

Each piece takes on a progressive issue from the point of view of the progressives who are speaking it. In fact the first scene, featuring Bette Midler, acknowledges this outright. She talks of how the MAGA hat wearing man she is charged with assaulting told her that he is mostly motivated by pissing people like her off. I think a lot of the reaction to this has been about how on the nose Coastal Elites often is. I mean the cast, Midler, Levy, and Rae specifically, aren't known for their subtlety. But for me that was a bonus. I liked that it was unabashed a cry into the night, this long night of the soul American is currently suffering. I liked it didn't shy away from embracing all that so many are living through at this moment. 

I found Rudnick's script, while sometimes running on too long, was on point for capturing the frustrations, the fears, the angers, the passions, and the consternation of its subjects. He manages to put his finger on so much of what is making the current American reality so sad, and he does it with a bit of humour and perhaps even optimism. Because there is a real honesty to the pieces. Perhaps its an honesty too many don't want to hear and maybe that's why people have reacted to it in the way they have.

There is something about director Roach's approach, how he has his subjects look directly into the camera, speaking right to us, which I feel might be a bit disconcerting for most audiences. There is something a bit too real, too confessional. We often don't want to look into these mirrors, and perhaps now it's all still too raw. But really I think he's tapped into something rather visceral here and in many ways I just couldn't look away. And perhaps years from now, this can provide a bit of a time capsule into this moment, this pandemic moment, this final days of Trump's first term moment, this social media moment. Hopefully a time we've begun to forget a bit.

Coastal Elites

Starring: Bette Midler, Dan Levy, Issa Rae, Sarah Paulson, Kaitlyn Dever

Director: Jay Roach

Writer: Paul Rudnick