| Sian Heder Emilia Jones, Troy Kotsur CODA Vendome Pictures 8/13/2021 1 hr. 51 min. PG-13 Drama Target Age Ages 12-17 Target Gender Male and Female |  |
Click here to see how I came up with all my scores.
Review:
Why would God make some people deaf? Why would He force them to inconvenience their other hearing family members? Unfortunately, the world may never be able to answer those deep questions, and I would hardly say that CODA is doing much in providing clarity. Rather than inspiring deaf people, this feel-good drama just wants hearing people to feel better about themselves and feel grateful for the fact that they still have all five of their senses. Not to say this movie is bad, but it’s certainly not good.
The main character here is Ruby, a hearing teenager with a deaf family. She is caught in the predicament where she is forced to follow her parents everywhere as their free translator, and she gets nothing out of it in return, other than mom and dad manipulating her to take advantage of her. In fact, nobody in this family has their lives together: her brother starts a fight at a bar, then immediately after has sex with an underaged bartender, which only makes him unlikable.
The brother is often on Tinder, even at the family dinner table, which ends up being a detail that goes nowhere. But these immoral family members do help make Ruby more sympathetic- her circumstance makes you easily believe she’s the type of girl who would sleep in class. Unfortunately, it doesn’t add up to much considering her motives at times are quite confusing, which more so goes to the parents. That’s probably because the plot threads are all disjointed, as in, the scene right after the previous is always tonally and contextually different. There’s no fluidity or rhythm to the random order the events progress.
It would have helped if deafness was actually portrayed realistically. In one scene, a concert the parents attend goes 100% silent for a while to show what it’s like from their points of view, which is neither accurate nor necessary to include. Most deaf people don’t have 100% hearing loss, and if the movie wanted to convey that, it would have worked just as easy to just crank the volume down manually. It’s a direct-to-streaming movie, you’d think these filmmakers would have kept that in mind and taken advantage of the medium. But alas, this feels exactly like a direct-to-streaming release, with the awkward lack of chemistry between the romantic teen couple who just stand like stationary sticks while together. Even worse, the cinematography is among the worst of the year; the camera moves in inappropriate ways, and the lighting makes it impossible to read the text messages Ruby gets on her phone.
The blaringly low budget of the film in turn calls attention to its ethnic stereotypes; Bernardo the choir instructor has an annoying accent that sounds like it was imitated by a White guy from fifty years ago. In fact, his whole intro scene is pretty intolerable to watch, as it wastes time in showing every student sing Happy Birthday, which serves nothing for the purpose of the scene.
But if looking just at the deaf actors who played the deaf characters, there is nothing but perfection in their performances. Academy Award winner Marlee Matlin plays the mom, and you can tell by her acting how much her character really needs her daughter, and not just as an interpreter. She always has the eyes of someone who needs to say something but just can’t, and when she signs, she does so as if pleading for something to come near her. Daniel Durant, who plays Ruby’s brother, likewise acts envious of his sister, but you can tell how conflicted his feelings for her really are. He can’t vocalize his words, yet you still know at all times exactly what he wants. Though neither of them steals the scene quite the same way as Troy Kotsur. In his most pivotal scene, he feels his daughter’s vocal cords as she sings, and his tears are hidden but very much present. Not only does he make you cry, he makes you laugh as well with the funny way he farts and describes what jock itch feels like, in those little moments, he shows the unique sense of humor that deaf people have.
Director Sian Heder (a writer for Orange is the New Black) proves acceptable enough in directing, especially in the humorous moments when a hearing character tries to sign one thing but instead signs something completely different. She truly understands the deaf community and how it affects Ruby, as demonstrated by the scenes that are designed to show how much fear her special lifelong predicament ignites. She sings as she helps her dad and brother catch fish, giving the image that she wants to use this music like how Jesus would… being a fisher of men. Then the very next day her parents blast music while picking her up from school, which immediately tells you how much she resents mom and dad’s habits as deaf people.
In her tough time of being a teenager, the teacher gives Ruby good lessons that come about as a result of her negligence, which erupts when she visualizes in ASL how she feels when she sings. Her sincerity makes up for the times when the actors seem tempted to drop an f-bomb in a scene where it would feel natural to do so, but they awkwardly avoid saying it so the movie can keep its overly sentimentalized PG-13 rating. It would have made Ruby’s predicament a lot more authentic as she translates her father’s angry outbursts to the big boss.
So while CODA is not necessarily great, nor is it something that you’d call something with rewatch value, I don’t know if you’ll even remember seeing this movie a couple of months from now. But for what it’s worth, this exploration of a unique family situation does a passible enough job.
Why would God make some people deaf? Why would He force them to inconvenience their other hearing family members? Unfortunately, the world may never be able to answer those deep questions, and I would hardly say that CODA is doing much in providing clarity. Rather than inspiring deaf people, this feel-good drama just wants hearing people to feel better about themselves and feel grateful for the fact that they still have all five of their senses. Not to say this movie is bad, but it’s certainly not good.
The main character here is Ruby, a hearing teenager with a deaf family. She is caught in the predicament where she is forced to follow her parents everywhere as their free translator, and she gets nothing out of it in return, other than mom and dad manipulating her to take advantage of her. In fact, nobody in this family has their lives together: her brother starts a fight at a bar, then immediately after has sex with an underaged bartender, which only makes him unlikable.
The brother is often on Tinder, even at the family dinner table, which ends up being a detail that goes nowhere. But these immoral family members do help make Ruby more sympathetic- her circumstance makes you easily believe she’s the type of girl who would sleep in class. Unfortunately, it doesn’t add up to much considering her motives at times are quite confusing, which more so goes to the parents. That’s probably because the plot threads are all disjointed, as in, the scene right after the previous is always tonally and contextually different. There’s no fluidity or rhythm to the random order the events progress.
It would have helped if deafness was actually portrayed realistically. In one scene, a concert the parents attend goes 100% silent for a while to show what it’s like from their points of view, which is neither accurate nor necessary to include. Most deaf people don’t have 100% hearing loss, and if the movie wanted to convey that, it would have worked just as easy to just crank the volume down manually. It’s a direct-to-streaming movie, you’d think these filmmakers would have kept that in mind and taken advantage of the medium. But alas, this feels exactly like a direct-to-streaming release, with the awkward lack of chemistry between the romantic teen couple who just stand like stationary sticks while together. Even worse, the cinematography is among the worst of the year; the camera moves in inappropriate ways, and the lighting makes it impossible to read the text messages Ruby gets on her phone.
The blaringly low budget of the film in turn calls attention to its ethnic stereotypes; Bernardo the choir instructor has an annoying accent that sounds like it was imitated by a White guy from fifty years ago. In fact, his whole intro scene is pretty intolerable to watch, as it wastes time in showing every student sing Happy Birthday, which serves nothing for the purpose of the scene.
But if looking just at the deaf actors who played the deaf characters, there is nothing but perfection in their performances. Academy Award winner Marlee Matlin plays the mom, and you can tell by her acting how much her character really needs her daughter, and not just as an interpreter. She always has the eyes of someone who needs to say something but just can’t, and when she signs, she does so as if pleading for something to come near her. Daniel Durant, who plays Ruby’s brother, likewise acts envious of his sister, but you can tell how conflicted his feelings for her really are. He can’t vocalize his words, yet you still know at all times exactly what he wants. Though neither of them steals the scene quite the same way as Troy Kotsur. In his most pivotal scene, he feels his daughter’s vocal cords as she sings, and his tears are hidden but very much present. Not only does he make you cry, he makes you laugh as well with the funny way he farts and describes what jock itch feels like, in those little moments, he shows the unique sense of humor that deaf people have.
Director Sian Heder (a writer for Orange is the New Black) proves acceptable enough in directing, especially in the humorous moments when a hearing character tries to sign one thing but instead signs something completely different. She truly understands the deaf community and how it affects Ruby, as demonstrated by the scenes that are designed to show how much fear her special lifelong predicament ignites. She sings as she helps her dad and brother catch fish, giving the image that she wants to use this music like how Jesus would… being a fisher of men. Then the very next day her parents blast music while picking her up from school, which immediately tells you how much she resents mom and dad’s habits as deaf people.
In her tough time of being a teenager, the teacher gives Ruby good lessons that come about as a result of her negligence, which erupts when she visualizes in ASL how she feels when she sings. Her sincerity makes up for the times when the actors seem tempted to drop an f-bomb in a scene where it would feel natural to do so, but they awkwardly avoid saying it so the movie can keep its overly sentimentalized PG-13 rating. It would have made Ruby’s predicament a lot more authentic as she translates her father’s angry outbursts to the big boss.
So while CODA is not necessarily great, nor is it something that you’d call something with rewatch value, I don’t know if you’ll even remember seeing this movie a couple of months from now. But for what it’s worth, this exploration of a unique family situation does a passible enough job.
Thanks so much for your time in reading! Please subscribe to my site for more updates on reviews.
If there is a specific movie you’d like to see graded, or if you are interested in guest blogging for my site, please email me at Trevor@TrevorsViewOnHollywood.com for your recommendations.
Have a great weekend, and happy watching!
If there is a specific movie you’d like to see graded, or if you are interested in guest blogging for my site, please email me at Trevor@TrevorsViewOnHollywood.com for your recommendations.
Have a great weekend, and happy watching!
RSS Feed
