Film: CODA

 

GENRE: Drama, Comedy
RATING: PG-13 for language and sexual content
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 51 minutes
PLATFORM: Apple TV+
STARRING: Emilia Jones (Locke & Key); Troy Kotsur (The Number 23)
Marlee Matlin (Children of a Lesser God, West Wing, Quantico)
DIRECTOR: Sian Heder (newcomer)
WRITER: Heder (Orange is the New Black)
PLOT: A child of deaf adults needs to help her family’s fishing business while trying to pursue her love of music.   

FULL DISCLOSURE: Watched this without the subtitles.

STORY STUFF: I didn’t think this film would affect me the way it did. It kind of snuck up on me. The story is at times heartbreaking and at other times inspirational and other times really funny. I often found myself empathizing with Jones’ Ruby, imagining what I would do if I was in the same situation. I admit there was a welling of the eyes a few times. There are some moments in the film, where things could be resolved a lot faster if people would just say what was actually going on in their lives. Speaking of miscommunicating, I watched a downloaded version of the film instead of taking the time to set up my Apple TV+ of which I am a subscriber. My version didn’t have subtitles. That could have been helpful. However, I’m amazed at how much I got anyway and still loved the film.

ACTING STUFF: Kotsur is fantastic and deservedly won the SAG award for Supporting Actor. He better get the Oscar. His expressiveness and emotion is pitch perfect even if I didn’t understand everything he signed. It was that powerful. Jones plays the teenager torn between two worlds incredibly well. She also has a great singing voice.

ARTISTIC STUFF: Which school choir sings “Let’s Get It On”? That seems incredibly inappropriate. Reminds of Glee where the teacher is singing explicitly sexual songs with his students. What I did appreciate was the use of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” which seemed forever connected to Love Actually. I liked it better here. I also liked the cinematography and use of rack focus.     

VERDICT: Four and half stars out of five
SEE IT IF: You want to be moved by a heartwarming story.
UPCOMING REVIEW: The Batman