Coda

By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.3 cats
Director: Sian Heder
Starring: Ann Forsyth | Daniel Durant | Emilia Jones | John Fiore | Kevin Chapman | Lonnie Farmer | Troy Kotsur

Country: france, united_states

Year: 2021

Running time: 111

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10366460/reference

Chris says: “Ruby (Emilia Jones) is a CODA, or a Child of Deaf Adults. Actually, she’s the only hearing member of her family. She often accompanies her father (Troy Kotsur) and older brother (Daniel Durant), both of them fishermen in Gloucester, Mass. on their daily catch. However, she also finds herself drawn to her high school choir, where she discovers with the help of her mercurial but nurturing teacher (Eugenio Derbez) a real talent for singing. Her mother (Oscar-winning deaf actress Marlee Matlin) doesn’t understand why Ruby would want to pursue a career the rest of her family literally cannot understand and pressures her to stay with the family business rather than audition for Berklee.

“Writer/director Siân Heder (Orange is the New Black, TALLULAH) has constructed a straight-down-the-line crowd-pleaser (complete with a requisite love interest/duet partner played by Ferdia Walsh-Peelo from SING STREET.) Fortunately, it’s an excellent one. In its depiction of a family dynamic not often seen on screen (in particular, how the rest of Ruby’s family communicates with and without her), it avoids feeling hackneyed or like an After School Special. From the get-go, it beautifully fleshes out most of its principal characters and thrives on great work from Jones, Derbez, Kotsur, Durant and the ever-reliable Matlin. And while Heder always entertains in her approach, she also crafts an engaging familial drama with much to say about how the deaf are often misconstrued by the rest of us. 4.5 cats

“Screened at the Provincetown International Film Festival”

Michael says: “Here’s a film I wanted to catch at the Provincetown International Film Festival but couldn’t squeeze in. Chris gave it a rave review, which I pretty much agree with… except I’m not quite as enthusiastic. While there was a lot I enjoyed about it, it really was very much an emotionally manipulative, straight-down-the-line crowd-pleaser that left me feeling… well, emotionally manipulate. Yes, I teared up, but as I often say, just because a movie makes me cry, doesn’t mean it’s good. But CODA is good, so it’s got that going for it. Ruby is a CODA — a child of deaf adults — the only hearing member of her family growing up in Gloucester, a fishing town in MA. She works the fishing boat with her father and brother, then rushes off to school, often without even enough time to change her clothes, so she stinks of dead fish. She’s always been looked at as a bit of a weirdo by many of her schoolmates, that girl with the weird family who smells like fish, but in her final year of high school, she’s actually noticed a boy for what might be the first time. When he signs up for choir, she impulsively does the same. She doesn’t really know if she’s any good, but she does love to sing. Her mom, however, thinks it’s odd that Ruby would choose such a strange hobby — one that the rest of her family just can’t comprehend. With the help of the eccentric music teacher, she is encouraged to audition to get into Berklee School of Music.

“But responsibility rears its ugly head, as Ruby is called upon, as she been nearly all her life, to be the medium through which her family interacts with hearing people. When they break rank with the fishing company that holds a monopoly on purchasing the fish the locals catch, and start selling fish directly to consumers, they gather a small following to join them, and Ruby is there to translate. In the end it all comes down to closing between her own dreams or enabling her family, helping them, but essentially keeping them helpless in a hearing world. You can probably figure out which way she choses to go.

“The strength of the film really lies in London-born actress Emilia Jones’ hands (she plays Ruby.) Already a veteran with over a dozen films and even more television roles under her belt, she brings a lot of warmth to the role, and is easy to connect with. The rest of the cast is all fine as well, but there were parts that felt really very TV movie of the week, or formulaic Hollywood family drama, where you laugh, you cry, and you LEARN SOMETHING. So yes, it was good, and I liked it, but as I said… there was something about it that irritated me too. The local Massachusetts setting certainly was a treat. 3 1/2 cats”

Vicki says: “I saw this at Provincetown and when I read Chris’s review, I agreed with him. It was one of my favorites from the festival. Perhaps I was looking for a ‘crowd pleaser’ and that it is. Although some of it might be predictable, the script, direction and performances lifted it out of its soap opera  potential. I particularly like seeing Gloucester as a character. It’s a solid film that is enjoyable to watch. 4 cats”

Brett says: “Trigger warning for potentially misinterpreted harshness below. Might want to give this commentary a hard pass.

“A pretty painful sit-through. Every scene is reaching. Every performance is reaching (with some notable exceptions at times from warm, like-able lead Emilia Jones who does her best to carry the rest of the cast). Forget any sort of subtle development from the writing though.  I entered the film ready to enjoy an authentic representative film with a fresh story. What’s inside, however, is writing that is super forced, and all I kept going back to was how much like a Hallmark movie this felt like, except with much better cinematography and a license to empty swear and use sex for no real purpose. Another constant thought I had was how much this caters to an audience that is willing to forgive hokey misstep after misstep just because it’s a feel-good flick that operates within a family dynamic we’re not accustomed to seeing on screen. It’s possible I’m missing the point that might have something to do with normalizing the Hollywood or ‘TV movie’ universal cheesy family dramedy in this particular family context, but if you replace the sign language with vocalized dialogue (outside of the sign language-dependent contexts), much of this film would be unforgivable. So, I don’t really get how normalizing material that’s always been bleh warrants forgiveness here. I just can’t see how this would be a 5-star movie unless the 1980s/90s ABC Sunday Night Movie of the Week would get anything less than 5 stars as well.

“I love films that welcome audiences into a cultural/social dynamic with which they might not see represented as often as they should in cinema. That’s one reason I was very hyped for this film and it’s potential for mainstream exposure. This experience, however, felt more like a shoehorned attempt and could’ve done much better to endear audiences to a rich familial experience without all the try-hard attempts at juvenile and sophomoric humor.  It seems like they thought it would be funny just because it was being expressed through sign language.  Add to that the copycat dramatics I’ve seen in countless other films (the unassuming girl falling for the cute boy, the lakeside swim and splashing of water in each other’s faces, the best friend who wants to get it on with the main character’s brother, the teacher trying to tap into talent that only he can see, the boy who wasn’t who you thought he was at first but finds his redemption, the inevitable schmaltzy first kiss, the corny deus ex machina, and the list just goes on and on).

“The empty ‘humor’ moments, just one example of which is the scene in which friend Gertie visits main character Ruby’s house telegraphed the punchline miles in advance, and in the context of the narrative, it was simply intended for a cheap laugh, followed by an unnecessary sexual closet romp we’ve seen a thousand times in other films. Furthermore, the Classical Hollywood Cinema formula of incorporating the secondary narrative featuring a love interest for our main character had its whole plot painfully telegraphed from the opening moment Ruby lays eyes on her love interest and signs up for choir. (The choir teacher storyline is its own set of Saved By the Bell eyerolls.)

“Lead actor Emilia Jones has a great voice. There’s that at least.

“As far as Sian Heder films moving forward though, it’s probably going to be a swipe left for me from now on (which I will contend is a much better use of the joke than the ‘dinner Tinder’ in this film). Exposing myself to this was a live and learn experience, I suppose. But After-School Specials weren’t and still aren’t all that appealing to me. If we’re giving out awards for this one, I’d like to nominate myself for being able to sit through the film till the end.

“All that said, I can appreciate audiences who are drawn to this type of fluff piece, as it takes a healthy balance of optimism and positivity toward something like this to make the world a great place. Generally speaking, the types that a film like this appeals to are usually great people to be around, so I recognize and applaud that it does have some semblance of a target audience in mind. I’m type of person who needs them and am glad those folks exist.

“1 cat for me for the first 1:26:00 of the film with an attempt to bump to 2 for the mom/dad perspective during the high school duet sequence and the final Joni Mitchell performance

“Some aesthetically soothing cinematography at times and a vibrant color palette that was satisfying.”