CODA [2021]
“I thought I would fail you. That being deaf would make me a bad mom.
--You're a bad mom for other reasons...
{they laugh}”
CODA is the heartwarming family drama that took the theatrical world by storm in the summer of 2021. I’ve only just gotten around to seeing it and... I wish that it had swept me away as well.
It’s difficult to judge films like CODA because I think a lot of their appeal [much like 2019’s The Sound of Metal] and critical acclaim come from their adept representation rather than their actual prowess as films. While I certainly enjoyed CODA more than I did Metal, I still don’t think it’s some miraculous breakthrough in film that will be remembered for years and years to come. It was just… fine.
A few weeks out and I don’t remember the score, the cinematography, any particular scenes [except the one that was ALMOST perfect], or any major plot points that I thought were handled beyond “satisfactory”. Overall, CODA reminds me of the 2016 film Manchester by the Sea, without the parts where I think that film is great.
I’m not writing this dog CODA or the people who loved it or the people it represents. I have a huge soft-spot for deaf culture and communities, and this definitely touched me in all the right ways to make it hurt. However, as a film, CODA missed a single beat that took the whole film from being a soaring 8.5+, down to an average 7. And that beat, is the ending.
CODA is a slice-of-life film that follows Ruby, the only hearing member of an otherwise deaf family [CODA = Child of Deaf Adults] as they struggle to maintain their identity [and livelihood] as fisherpeople in a coastal New England town. Ruby is getting ready to go off to college [music college of all unrelatable things for her entirely deaf family], but they are so dependent on her that it will radically change the way they live if she pursues her own dreams. The story is well told and touching… it just lacks any staying power once the credits roll.
What CODA does that I absolutely love, is tell a different character’s story through the telling of the protagonist. CODA is not a story about Ruby, but a story about her father. While we get snippets and pieces of elucidation around the other characters, the film is ultimately about her father’s growth as a person, a guardian, and a member of a larger world. While I think that 2020’s My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell it To does this more masterfully, CODA really shines in the pieces where its true tale is told.
Unfortunately, right at the moment that the film has the chance to take us in a slightly more artistic and deeply emotional direction; it chooses a very literal and linear one instead. While this won’t be an issue for some [or even most based on the acclaim it’s gotten], for me, CODA was almost one of my favorite movies of 2021… and then was just too easy and obvious to ultimately be remembered.
It’s too bad because the bones CODA is built on are very strong and mostly elegant. If you watch this and like it even a little I highly suggest both of the movies I mentioned above.
“There are plenty of pretty voices with nothing to say. Do you have something to say?”
