Inclusive, funny, original, and genuinely moving, CODA is just about the most wonderful start to the 2021 Sundance Film Festival that you could hope for. This endearing fish-out-of-water coming-of-age story about the only hearing daughter in a deaf family embracing her love of singing feels like a revelatory discovery; not only is it a standout film in and of itself but it’s the kind of movie that uses inclusiveness to tap into new voices and entirely new types of stories.
CODA, a clever double entendre that stands for “Children of Deaf Adults” in addition to the musical term for, essentially, the next step in a movement, explores what it means to be passionate about something that your loved ones cannot comprehend. In this instance, for good reason. Ruby Rossi’s (a phenomenal Emilia Jones) family literally cannot hear her gifts. What a typical teenager move to be a talented singer if you have a deaf mom. Such a rebel.
Featuring a wonderful ensemble of perfectly-cast talent, CODA tackles the tricky dynamic of a deaf family that relies on their hearing daughter as a cipher to the outside world. Her parents (Marlee Matlin and Troy Kotsur, both phenomenal), a lifelong fisherman and his business-end partner-wife, don’t want to put themselves out there – they live in modest comfort and unflappable happiness in their little family bubble – but brother Leo (Daniel Durant) wants more.
More for himself and his family professionally. More from a community that regularly takes advantage of their “disability” in order to pay them cut-rate prices for their fish. And more for his sister, who he wants to back off and live her own life so that his parents can stop leaning on her as a crutch between the deaf and non-deaf community. Meanwhile, Ruby discovers that her love of singing transcends mere interest when she joins the choir chasing crush Miles (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) and enthusiastic teacher Mr. Villalobos (Eugenio Derbez) encourages her to pursue college of music at Berkley.
Writer-director Sian Heder perfectly balances the beautiful tear-jerk moments with the more light-footed comedy and cheese-tinged teen drama but none of it ever feels manipulative or intentionally designed to milk the tear ducts. But bring a mop regardless. Tears will be shed. If you cut CODA to its core, it would bleed earnest and genuine until it’s dry and that’s in no small part due to Heder’s tactics, who – even in the wake of last year’s Sound of Metal – feels like she includes the deaf community in her picture in a way that never has been done before.
The director even learned to communicate in sign language before shooting the film with her predominantly deaf cast. Heder says, “ASL infiltrated the set in the best way” and you can feel how allowing a different type of language to penetrate your film also allows for novel stories to unfold. That all the interpreters on the filmset were actually CODAs themselves just underscores how much ASL was a part of the fabric of the process.
Loosely based on the French film La Famille Bélier, outside of its empathic and inspiring outlook perhaps CODA’s greatest weapon is its cast, which is purely wonderful from top to bottom. Emilia Jones (Locke and Key) is a beautiful find and packs a voice that sends shivers running down your spine every time she lets her pipes rip but Troy Kotsur absolutely steals the show as her father Leo. His use of ALS as a comedic medium is game-changing; a near-vaudeville routine of crude gestures and visual storytelling that had me in regular stitches. That he blanches that inspired comedy in such emotionally-open earnestness is the perfect microcosm of CODA’s overwhelming greatness and why it soars.
CONCLUSION: Emilia Jones, Troy Kotsur, and the rest of the wonderful cast make ‘CODA’ hit the highest of high notes. Writer-director Sian Heder delivers a feel-good knock-out about a deaf family with a hearing daughter who aspires to sing that has so so much to say, even if it communicates differently.
A
For all our coverage of Sundance 2021, click here.
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By: Matt Oakes
Started blogging about film in college when the university paper wouldn’t have him. Dislikes your consensus film Twitter favorites. Devotee of horror movies that make him die a little inside. Catches films at festivals when he can. Proud SFCS and OFCS member and Tomatometer-approved critic. Editor-in-chief of Silver Screen Riot.
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