Folks who've read my critiques of previous CNGM films know that the one area that's been the roughest has been audio. Well, I must say that, with Coasting, the audio is much, much better than in any other CNGM films. While there were a few lines that were recorded too softly (and could stand to be redubbed), most of the dialogue was recorded clearly and mixed to a constant level, which prevented me from having to play with the volume at all when watching this film! High praise to the sound engineer on this film!
As to the soundtrack, the quirky guitar based score worked pretty well with the film, although there were times where it felt a little heavy-handed. For example, during an awkward pause in a conversationation between Morgan and Wes at his parent's house, a discordant guitar chord is played loudly. A little more subtlety would have helped in some of these more blatant circumstances. However, the overall score and soundtrack worked very well for the film and I found it contributed a lot to the film.
While there were some areas that could've stood to be polished, I think that Coasting really has a lot of lasting appeal. While the language is a bit rough for some of the Sleepless in Seattle crowd, I think that many people who like romantic dramas will find this a really charming film. I personally enjoyed watching it and will enjoy showing it to others.
Michael Noens and the folks from CNGM have done a great job on Coasting, creating a quirky romantic drama that flies in the face of convention. I think that the likelihood of this film finding distribution are easily as high as White Out (which was purchased for distribution shortly after our critique of it). I look forward to Mr. Noens next film!
