OVP: CODA (2021)

Film: CODA (2021)

Stars: Emilia Jones, Eugenio Derbez, Troy Kotsur, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Daniel Durant, Marlee Matlin

Director: Sian Heder

Oscar History: 3 nominations/3 wins (Best Picture*, Supporting Actor-Troy Kotsur*, Adapted Screenplay*)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

While I opined the demise of the blockbuster (primarily because I couldn't see it) during the pandemic, one of the bigger things I've missed since then has been mid or even smaller-tier films sitting in theaters.  After all, most of the 2021 movies that I've seen this year have not been films that are coming in with modest budgets, but instead giant effects spectacles, and while I'm not over them (drown me in CGI at this point-I was too deprived in 2020), I have been clamoring for seeing modest films in theaters again.  On the surface, CODA fits this bill-it was a festival hit at Sundance with only one major star (Oscar-winner Marlee Matlin), but if you know me at all (particularly if you're my brother, who has repeatedly poked fun at me for years about this), I'm not someone that likes "happy" films of this nature.  I am more inclined toward movies that are filled with unrest or a coldness.  CODA has moments of unhappiness, but it's hardly cool-it is, in fact, a warm hug of a picture.  And somehow, despite my natural inclinations, it was exactly what I wanted-striking the right tone of heart & strong ensemble to give me a fulfilling return of the smaller-budget favorite.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie focuses on Ruby Rossi (Jones), who is the only hearing member of her otherwise deaf family living in Massachusetts.  She has a love of music, which is discouraged by her otherwise supportive family, whom she helps with their failing fishing business.  One day, encouraged by a boy named Miles (Walsh-Peelo) who joins choir, she joins as well, and her cantankerous teacher Mr. V (Derbez) finds that she has talent, training her for an audition to a prestigious university (one of those situations where they don't call it Juilliard, but you know that's what they're going for), but this is getting in the way of her work with her family, who has decided to standup to the fishing complex that is cheating them out of their work & starting a flourishing fish-to-table business on the docks.  Eventually her parents realize this is her dream and also that they have to find a way to cope with their hearing daughter leaving (and the complex reliance they have on her to communicate with the rest of the world), starting to relate to other people again & letting Ruby pursue her dreams.

The film itself doesn't break any ground with its story-this is all territory we've been through a hundred times before, and while the sensitively-handled angle of hearing deficit might be under-explored, a young woman defying her parents to pursue an unlikely dream is what a lot of movies are built around.  What makes this film different is not just that it's handled well by the script (a tight 111-minutes with not as much repetition as you'd think), but also the ensemble itself.

Jones is strong in the lead role.  I don't know that this is a "discovery" role in the same way Jessie Buckley got a couple of years back, but between this and her starring role on Netflix's Locke & Key, hers is a name I'm going to remember coming out of CODA.  Better still are her family, played ably by (real-life) deaf actors Kotsur, Matlin, & Durant.  Matlin has been a strong asset in television shows for decades since her groundbreaking Oscar win in Children of a Lesser God, but she hasn't had a lot of opportunities to shine in a role like this.  She knows what she's got, and she runs with it, giving us not just a sympathetic performance, but also one that shows a well-rounded character; I kept thinking of how Holly Hunter gave us more than what was on the page in The Big Sick, this has that kind of vibe.  Kotsur is great, though for me the other find in this cast is Durant.  The actor, who is known for his Broadway revival role in Spring Awakening, is a smoke show & leans into it (there are repeated scenes of girls just throwing themselves at him, and I honestly cosign that sentiment).  He plays Leo as complicated, not understanding the world that his sister has been given, but also not being allowed to flourish in his own right even though he has visions for where his family's business could go.  This ensemble brings this movie to life-in a different time, I'd say this was the kind of movie that could be a surprise sleeper hit at the box office.  Even if that doesn't happen, make a point of seeking it out.