Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed in this review are solely those of Marlon Wallace and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of WBOC.
This premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. It won four awards there, including the U.S. Grand Jury Prize. Apple Computer bought the distribution rights for $25 million, which is the highest price a film has ever been sold at that festival. Apple released the film in select theaters last August and also made the film available on its video streaming service, Apple TV+. It was critically acclaimed and during this award season has been racking up a lot of nominations and a few prizes. It’s up for three categories at the 94th Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Troy Kotsur is nominated for Best Supporting Actor and given his track record during this awards season, Kotsur is the presumptive winner. However, given recent developments, including winning the top Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award in February and the top Producers Guild of America (PGA) Award this week, it’s looking likely that this film will win the ultimate prize and take the Oscar for Best Picture.
If the film does win Best Picture, it will be the first time that a film distributed by an online or digital streaming service would have won Best Picture. Netflix’s The Power of the Dog is nominated this year for Best Picture and has the most nominations with 12. Until a couple of weeks ago, The Power of the Dog was the likely winner. Netflix is also a streaming service, so if The Power of the Dog wins, that same bit of history will also be made. There have been several articles about how the Academy has a bias against giving a streaming service its top prize because the Academy values the theatrical experience. The Academy prefers to reward distributors that prioritize putting films in theaters and not online. Some are therefore predicting films like Dune, Belfast, West Side Story, King Richard or even Drive My Car, which is the first Japanese film to be nominated for Best Picture.
However, this film, written and directed by Sian Heder, would make history in other ways if it won Best Picture. It would be only the third time that a film has won Best Picture where the film was directed by a woman. This comes after The Hurt Locker at the 82nd Academy Awards and Nomadland at the 93rd Academy Awards. Heder isn’t nominated for Best Director. There is a female director who is nominated who is the presumptive winner, that of Jane Campion. This year also marks the third time that there is a list of Best Picture nominees where there are at least two films directed by women. We had such at the 93rd Academy Awards and previous to that, there was the 83rd Academy Awards.
Just as significantly, if this won, it would also be the first film to win that featured a cast of predominantly deaf actors. Arguably, there has been a surge of films that have been recognized recently that feature people from the deaf community. In addition to this film, there is also Drive My Car (2021), which features a deaf person in a couple of scenes who is playing a stage actor. There’s Audible (2021), which is nominated for Best Live Action Short Film and is about an athlete at the Maryland School for the Deaf. There was even Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) in which the titular character knows American Sign Language and is best friends with a deaf girl. At the 93rd Academy Awards, Sound of Metal (2020) and Feeling Through (2020) were films nominated that featured deaf people. The new horror franchise A Quiet Place (2018) also prominently featured a deaf person.
None of those aforementioned films focus on a family where multiple family members are deaf. This film is unique in that regard. This family of four is entirely deaf except for one person. The parents are both deaf. The eldest child is the son who is also deaf. The youngest child is the teenage daughter. She’s the only one who can hear. Heder’s narrative centers on her. The title CODA is in fact an acronym for “Child of Deaf Adults.” That term wasn’t invented for this film. It’s a real term that’s been around for decades. An official organization called CODA was formed in 1983. That organization has since become a global one that allows people to interact and share their experiences. This film doesn’t reference that organization, which would likely have an online component. We never see the protagonist here reach out to that organization or interact with others like her.
The word “coda” is also a musical term that refers to the conclusion or ending part of a piece or movement. Heder’s narrative plays with that term as well, given that her protagonist named Ruby Rossi, played by Emilia Jones, loves to sing and wants to be a professional singer, making music an integral part of this story. It’s becoming ironic because films that feature a deaf person, such as Sound of Metal, It’s All Gone Pete Tong (2004) and Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995), will often juxtapose deafness with someone’s passion for music. It’s ironic and an obvious way to build conflict. It could also come across as lazy writing.
Thankfully, Heder’s narrative does pivot on another idea for conflict. People like Ruby often act as interpreters for their family members, which often puts them in precarious or uncomfortable situations. Deaf families often become dependent or reliant on family members like Ruby in ways that are draining or unfair to those family members. People like Ruby also face discrimination or prejudice from others in the immediate environment. Bullying at school is experienced but also bigotry from neighbors or those in the community are present as well. Heder’s film depicts those issues for Ruby and her family in brilliant and very empathetic ways.
Facing the kind of discrimination or bigotry, as well as having to be an interpreter for one’s family isn’t unique to children of deaf adults. It’s also something that children of immigrants also experience. Eugenio Derbez (Dora and the Lost City of Gold and Overboard) co-stars as Bernardo Villalobos, the high school music teacher for Ruby. He’s from Mexico City. It seemed likely that through him the same issue regarding children of immigrants would be expressed, but the film doesn’t make that parallel, which is frustrating because it makes this film feel more insular than perhaps intended.
The film opens with the depiction of a fishing boat, specifically a fishing trawler. It’s set in Gloucester, Massachusetts, but for those who live on the coast of an ocean or a bay where there is a fishing industry, there’s a bit by which to be intrigued here. The film does include a subplot about how the deaf family runs their fishing business, the conflict with certain regulations and interactions. Other than the deaf discrimination, when it comes to regulations about selling their catch, this film never delves too deeply into it. It broadly suggests that the fishermen are being over-regulated without explaining the reason for the regulation. There might be a corporate component to the fishing industry here where the fishermen are being stifled or short-changed due to some corporatism, but that isn’t made explicitly clear either.
In terms of the performances, they’re all good. Kotsur in particular is the standout. In fact, of the nominees for Best Supporting Actor, Kotsur is the most deserving. He’s the most comedic and even has one of the most heartfelt moments toward the end that is very endearing. There were some moments that felt like over-acting for all of them, particularly Daniel Durant who plays Leo Rossi, the older brother to Ruby.
There is a difference between stage acting and film acting. Acting for the stage often has to be over-the-top or bigger in order to reach people who might be sitting at the back of the theater. Film acting is often more subtle because there is a camera in the face of the actor able to capture every nuance. In certain scenes, Durant feels like he’s doing stage acting even though he’s not on stage. I understand he’s emphasizing certain emotions but at times he feels like he’s going too big. However, the performance isn’t too inhibiting and the rest of the film is balanced very well in terms of its emotions.
Rated PG-13 for strong sexual content and language, and drug use.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 51 mins.
In select theaters, including Milford Movies 9, and on Apple TV+.
