CODA (2021)
dir. Sian Heder
Rated: PG-13
image: ©2021 Apple TV+
CODA, at times, feels like it’s the product of a screenwriting algorithm rather than that it was written by an actual human being. The movie hits every emotional storytelling beat you would expect an Inspiring and Uplifting Dramedy to hit. That criticism aside, director Sian Heder – who wrote the screenplay – is able to conjure some magic from her familiar and well-worn overcoming adversity scenario. Most of that magic is down to the wonderful and inclusive cast.
Based on a 2014 French dramedy titled La Famille Bélier, CODA tells the story of the Rossi family. Jackie and Frank are deaf parents to one deaf child, Leo, in his early 20s, and one hearing child, Ruby, a high school senior. Ruby pulls double duty, keeping up her grades and thinking about college while also helping her dad and brother on their fishing boat. Ruby has to be on the boat for safety reasons like handling radio communications with the coast guard and other vessels. She also interprets for her dad and brother when dealing with the hearing dockworkers.
CODA – an acronym for Child of Deaf Adults – is a coming-of-age story we’ve seen dozens of times. The young protagonist is on the cusp of something new, but is conflicted about existing responsibilities. Using deafness as the “twist” on this familiar theme is a risky proposition. Fetishizing and appropriating deaf culture and the deaf community for the sake of drama is a bad look. La Famille Bélier was criticized because hearing actors were cast in the roles of the deaf characters.
Heder’s English-language remake corrects this crucial misstep of the original. Inclusive, respectful casting means deaf actors are in the deaf roles, not hearing actors using the lived experience of a historically oppressed community as an acting exercise. So, while it is still hearing people using the deaf experience to tell a story, there is, through the casting, a sense of authenticity, and (hopefully) the representation on-screen carried over to creative decisions made behind the camera.
The greatest compliment I can offer CODA is that, from start to finish, the movie feels like a warm hug. There is adversity and drama to be sure. We see bullying from Ruby’s classmates. (It seems like every time I drive past a school, there is invariably a big banner proclaiming “This is a bully-free zone,” which feels more like a marketing ploy than anything else.) Ruby’s crush hurts her and she disappoints her choir-teacher mentor. But there’s a lightness to the whole picture that reassures us we are all moving inexorably toward a happy ending.
There is also some flimsy storytelling in CODA which serves as a way to get Ruby – and us – to the soaring inspirational moments in the movie. Ruby enjoys singing. We’re introduced to that in the opening minutes of the movie when we hear her singing along to Etta James’s Something's Got a Hold on Me as she works with her dad and brother on their fishing boat off the coast of Massachusetts. (In the original film, they run a family farm.)
Ruby’s decision to join choir is a complete lark, though. She joins up because her secret crush does the same. I graduated from high school almost 25 years ago, so take my next complaint with a grain of salt, but, as someone who was a member of a choir from sixth grade through junior college, that’s not really how it works. A high school senior doesn’t decide on a whim to join choir. It’s even less likely that the person would have a preternatural singing ability and turn out to be a surprise star, unless, of course, that person is in an inspirational movie.
Heder ticks every dramatic conflict box, making individual scenes feel, at times, pro forma. Ruby doubts herself before finally heeding the advice of her mentor – Bernardo Villalobos, that’s Mr. V to anybody who can’t roll the “r” in Bernardo – and overcoming her fear. There’s a weirdly anti-government, anti-regulation subplot about federal monitors being placed on each fishing boat to make sure the fishers are obeying the law. They must do so at their own expense, $800 dollars a day. The fallout is devastating (at least for a few scenes) when the Rossi’s monitor turns them in for safety violations, because Ruby misses work when the monitor is on board. The movie handles the resolutions to these adversities with storytelling vagaries akin to someone saying, “Don’t worry, it’ll all work out.”
The charm of CODA’s cast and the movie’s warm sense of humor help make it a more enjoyable experience than it otherwise would be. Iconic actor Marlee Matlin – the only deaf performer to date to have won an Oscar, for her role in Children of a Lesser God – is superb as Ruby’s mother, Jackie. Matlin expertly telegraphs her character’s apprehension at the prospect of her daughter leaving home for good. One scene, in which Jackie and Ruby have a heart-to-heart about Jackie’s fears and Ruby’s dreams for her future, is particularly poignant. The connection the two actors share in the scene comes across as heartfelt and makes it one of the most moving sequences of the film.
Nineteen-year-old English actor, singer, and lyricist Emilia Jones turns in a touching performance as Ruby. Her singing voice is quite lovely, and she is adroit at handling both the moments of comedy and drama within CODA. Her American accent it also spot on; she totally fooled me as I watched the movie.
Deaf actor Troy Kotsur adds most of the comic relief to CODA as Ruby’s dad, Frank. His insatiable desire for Jackie is hilarious – members of the deaf community have praised Jackie and Frank’s relationship for showing members of the deaf community as whole people, which includes an active sex drive. Their loving relationship, and enthusiastic sex life, is one of CODA’s greatest charms.
Daniel Durant gives a well-rounded performance as Ruby’s brother, Leo. This is only Durant’s second feature film roll, and he makes the character feel fully formed. The movie does an excellent job of putting you in Leo’s shoes when he gets in a fight with an ignorant fellow fisherman.
The greatest laugh line in the movie comes when Mr. V attempts some sign language when meeting Ruby’s parents after the fall choir concert. “Nice to fuck you,” Mr. V signs as the movie’s subtitles let us in on his unwitting faux pas. Mexican actor Eugenio Derbez sells the moment, as well as every earnest Dead Poets Society-esque inspirational teacher speech he’s given, with a great amount of charm. It’s the movie’s off-beat sense of humor and the cast’s collective ability to give me a warm, fuzzy feeling that makes CODA rise above its formulaic triumph-over-adversity premise, if only barely.
Why it got 3 stars:
- CODA is emotionally affirming and positive, but it’s not anything we haven’t seen before. The performances and casting make the movie better than it has a right to be.
Things I forgot to mention in my review, because, well, I'm the Forgetful Film Critic:
- Kudos to the Pitch Perfect shout-out in the opening minutes of the movie.
- I can’t imagine having to interpret a doctor’s orders to your parents that they aren’t allowed to have sex for two weeks…
- The most playful that Heder gets with her camera is when it pans over to one of Ruby’s fellow choir members and, because he’s so tall, the camera then has to tilt up to get his head in the frame. I laughed out loud at that moment.
- When Ruby expresses concern to Mr. V that she won’t be able to afford college, he simply says, “They have scholarships.” It’s that kind of easy-answer papering over of the realities of the world that got me a little frustrated with the movie.
Close encounters with people in movie theaters:
- CODA is currently in a limited theatrical release, but it is also available with an Apple TV+ subscription, which is how I saw it.