Neil Young’s New Film ‘Coastal’ Reviewed: Take a Look at My Life
by Brad Auerbach
Neil Young in Coastal (Photo by Daryl Hannah, used with permission)
Shot in black-and-white, the newly released [April 2025] film Coastal explores the current state of Neil Young’s never-ending odyssey of pursuing his muse. Some who saw these 2023 solo acoustic shows complained that they were filled with deep cuts and/or unknown songs. Here in the film, Young intersperses several vintage tracks with many songs this veteran Young fan did not recognize, although those who’ve been seeing him live for years have come to expect the unexpected. Coastal delivers. But in a broader sense, it shows a lighter, humorous side of Young.
Neil Young in Coastal (Photo by Daryl Hannah, used with permission)
In Coastal, we see the old man Young sang about years ago. Although he moves slowly from backstage to onstage and shuffles a bit between instruments, there is still a sparkle in the eye and a definite conviction when he delivers his music. Much of the footage is Young on his beloved tour bus, often bantering with the driver. (Full disclosure, my wife’s uncle built a few tour buses for Young back in the day, as recounted in Young’s book Special Deluxe: A Memoir of Life & Cars).
The film starts with Young traveling south along the California coast from his home, stopping first at the John Anson Ford Theater in Los Angeles and then finding his way to the Rady Shell in San Diego. Although several of the freeway shots are shown out of order, you definitely get the impression Young enjoys the drive up and down the California coast, even if it means pointing out the oil derricks near Santa Barbara as “an environmental destruction exhibition platform.”
Young has had a lifelong affinity for vehicles and driving. In 1966, he was in a hearse dejectedly heading back to Canada when, going the other way, Stephen Stills recognized the car on Sunset Boulevard, the catalyst for the formation of Buffalo Springfield. Later, with Stills, he recorded “Long May You Run” about that old Pontiac.
Kudos to Daryl Hannah (the actress and Young’s wife) for delivering an admittedly better than expected film. Hannah stays mostly out of the picture, although she is on the receiving end of some affectionate comments from Young made directly to the camera.
Watch the official trailer for Coastal
The concert footage is well shot. Especially effective are the scenes when Young straps on Old Black, his trusty tattered Gibson. There are several continuity issues that folks might notice; mid-song he seems occasionally to switch between his “Support Local Music” and “Love Earth” t-shirts. “On the Way Home” and “Comes a Time” are the standout tracks of the few chestnuts in the film.
In addition to road travel, Young’s recurring theme of trains is manifested with his pervasive engineer’s cap, a cute Lionel train set on stage, and the toot-toot of the bus horn as it slowly exits venues through the departing audience. [Info on tickets and participating theaters to see the film is available here.]
Related: Our Album Rewind of Young’s Harvest
Coastal is not a film to give you the depth and range of Young’s biography; for that we will have to wait for the CSNY film from Robert Zemeckis. The long-in-the-works and generally dismissed Human Highway film did not do much to burnish Young’s reputation, even if it did bring Devo to the attention of Young’s manager and a consequent record deal with Warner Bros. But Coastal as a life-on-the-road film is a sweet poem, quiet and commanding at the same time. Its soundtrack is available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.
Tickets to see Young’s 2025 tour are available here and here.
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