It’s incredibly tricky to tell a story about people who are basically doing their best and trying their best and being their best-and who aren’t being persecuted by villains but are forced to cope with life’s difficult circumstances-without being banal or drippy. What writer-director Sian Heder has pulled off here (working off a 2014 French movie called La Famille Bélier ) is a meticulously constructed portrait of utter decency. Rather, I was deeply, profoundly touched.

I spent the last half hour in tears, and those weren’t tears of grief or sorrow or discomfort. I’d go so far as to say it’s among the most sheerly moving movies I’ve ever seen. CODA is a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful movie. Seek out this gem.As it turns out, you don’t. Now that it won the best picture Oscar, it is playing in wide release. When you see ‘CODA,’ you will understand why it is such a special film. It’s a painful transition for so many but it’s a necessary one to reach adulthood. When she leaves for college, her childhood ends. Ruby’s life with her family is coming to its coda. She sings a beautiful rendition of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now.”Īnother meaning of the word “coda” is a certain type of ending to a piece of music. The family takes her to the audition in Boston. As heartbreaking as it is for him, he knows the right thing to do is let her go. He cannot hear her sing but he can read lips and see the passion in his daughter. There’s a touching scene where she sings to her father. It’s another obstacle that makes her think twice about leaving home. Her teacher inspires her to follow her dream. When she takes choir, she realizes that she loves to sing. It’s s conventional story but perfectly executed. She is concerned if she leaves for college, her family might get cheated when they sell the catch of the day. Ruby has been her parent’s interpreter since childhood.

There are moments in the film where not a word is spoken but you understand their struggles through sign language. The cool thing about this film is that the deaf characters are actually played by deaf actors. They are genuinely scared whether the business can survive without her. Since her parents (Marlee Matlin and Troy Kosur) along with her brother (Daniel Durant) are deaf, they depend on her to communicate to the hearing world. Does she pursue her love for music or stay at home to continue helping the family business ? When the choir teacher (Eugenio Derbez) hears her voice, he sees promise in her and encourages her to apply to the Berklee College of Music in Boston. On a whim, she signs up for an elective class in the choir. Every morning before school, she helps her father and brother on the fishing boat out of Gloucester, Massachusetts. She is not really into school and has been helping the family fishing business. Ruby Rossi (Emilia Jones) is in her last year of high school. It’s a real tearjerker!įor a story to work there needs to be conflict. That is a resounding success for a small independent film. At this year’s Academy Awards, it walked away with the top honor of best picture. It was such a hit at Sundance that it was acquired by Apple TV+ for a record-breaking $25 million. These melodramatic tropes have been done in other films but director Sian Heder executes it with such love and grace that it is irresistible. It’s a coming of age story about a girl and her deaf family. The term means “child of deaf adults.” The premise is straightforward.

Coda movie review