The Lost Coast

Set over the course of one long Halloween night, The Lost Coast follows Mark, Jasper and Lily, three friends from high school now in their early twenties. In their formative years, Mark used to date Lily, whilst also indulging in some adolescent experimentation with Jasper. Years later, Mark is openly gay, while Jasper is straight and refuses to acknowledge his secret past. Joined by their obnoxious friend Caleb, the group trawl through the night on a hunt for Ecstasy, a journey that triggers off reminiscences of the past and ignites some long buried emotions. Incorporating elements of the US indie scene’s mumblecore movement, Gabriel Fleming's understated film is a haunting vision of friendship, sexuality and hidden desires. The often dreamlike visual style effectively complements the awkwardness of the characters, and the final sequences of the friends roaming the dusky beaches of San Francisco's Lost Coast linger long in the mind.
Michael Blyth