CODA

Grade: A

I am seeing a delightful trend of diversity in film that is different than just race. It is that of stories about the deaf and hard-of-hearing, featuring actual deaf/hearing impaired/signing actors as these characters. Last year, I quite enjoyed Sound of Metal, and now we have CODA (streamable on Apple TV), which is one of the best movies of this awards season, and likely the year.

CODA stands for “child of deaf adults,” and can also be a term used in sheet music, which is appropriate here too. Ruby is a high school senior who lives among the coasts of Gloucester, Massachusetts – filmed with as much beauty, quaintness, and small-town charm as I’ve ever seen in a movie. Her parents and older brother are deaf. She is hearing, and often acts as their interpreter. She gets up at 3am every morning to help them with their fishing business. At school, on a whim, she signs up for chorus class. The teacher sees something in her ability, and volunteers her and a boy to sing a duet at the upcoming concert. He also volunteers his personal time to coach her.

At one point, Ruby profoundly observes that even though her family can’t hear the townspeople laughing at them, she can, and has to deal with it. I haven’t felt as passionately about a leading female performance this year as I do about 19-year-old Emilia Jones as Ruby. She learned to sing, sign, and operate a fishing trawler for the role, and does all 3 splendidly. She conveys surprising emotional vulnerability in lengthy scenes with her parents and brother, many of which consist of just signing. I often didn’t know exactly what was being said, but could always glean the tone and general message. Unfamiliar languages can transcend barriers. She can carry a movie, wait ’til you hear her sing, and I’ll neither confirm nor deny whether she reminded me of someone I once had a crush on.

Troy Kotsur, Marlee Matlin, and Daniel Durant are her parents and brother, and each takes an opportunity to steal some scenes. One of CODA’s only missteps is in the writing of the chorus teacher character. Eugenio Derbez is an enjoyable performer, but his “Mr. V” is a flamboyant, over-the-top, sitcommy Inspirational Teacher. It is not enough to ruin the movie, but is a slight sore thumb in an otherwise earnest film.

CODA contains many conventions of the feel-good movie, while suplots such as emerging puppy love and an imminent college audition ramp up, and it makes all of them ring true with more freshness than I estimated it could. The movie doesn’t linger too much in any particular plot point or mood – it’s a perfect, gorgeous balancing act. From beginning to end, CODA is a beautiful cinematic experience that I’m glad to have seen. And trust me when I say have tissues on hand. I’m glad I watched this by myself.

Grade: A