Coda

Movie Name: Coda
Year of Release: 2021
Director: Sian Heder
Starring: Emilia Jones, Troy Kotsur, Marlee Matlin, Daniel Durant, Eugenio Derbez,  Amy Forsyth, John Fiore, Lonnie Farmer, Kevin Chapman, Courtland Jones, Molly Beth Thomas, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo
Genre: Drama
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 7
Watch it on Apple TV

Synopsis and Review

Writer/director Sian Heder had an auspicious feature debut with "Tallulah", which scored solid performances from Elliot Page and Allison Janney. Since then she has tackled a series of prestige TV shows which has included "Orange is the New Black", "Glow" and "The Path". "Coda" is her sophomore directorial effort, and is in fact the remake of the French film by Éric Lartigau titled "La Famille Bélier". The fact that this film went on to win the Oscar for best picture, once again reinforces the somewhat popular stance the voters lean on, disregarding at times the point of view of directors/authors whose films may not be as immediately embraced, but that are long lasting artistic achievements (this film won over Jane Campion's "The Power of the Dog" for instance). The narrative focuses on the story of Ruby Rossi, a high school senior whose family has hearing disabilities. Ruby has served as a translator for her whole family, including her loving parents and older brother, for her whole life. Her father and brother work as fishermen in the Boston area, something Ruby also helps with every early morning, before going to school. The family is having issues with the local association in terms of getting properly compensated for the fish they sell. Ruby in the meantime decides to enroll in the local high school choir, since she's interested in Miles, someone she has had little interaction with, and also because she genuinely loves music. Her teacher, Bernardo Villalobos, realizes there's talent but fears she lacks conviction to move forward with that activity. He decides to help prepare for an audition for college, which leaves the family in a bind, when their business is also going through some serious shifts.

The whole aspect of remaking non English speaking films is always a bit puzzling (even Martin Scorsese did so with "The Departed"), but "Coda" and its director manage to craft a compelling and even rather straightforward narrative, though a bit generic at times. It's a film that manages to define its characters rather briefly, leaving the lion share of attention to Rubi as the focal point and the one who introduces us to the challenges of the life she currently has. Her family is categorized as colorful, which typically is a way to reduce people to certain stereotypes (usually in films when a family is presented as colorful, it's due to their historical background, be it Greek or Italian, or any other that allows people to fall under certain types of behaviors), but in this case they're characterized as colorful due to their disability and way of communicating. This leaves very little for the characters to live beyond certain traits, which is one of the downfalls of the film. It would be far more compelling to understand a bit more about what the aspirations of that family actually are, and what makes them well rounded characters, beyond just the fact that they have a hearing disability. As it is, Ruby is characterized as a sensitive young woman, wanting to find her own path in the world, leaving behind the responsibility of caring for her family, who finally also have to come to their own terms and learn to be reliable on their own. It's a film with heart, and features solid performances from the whole cast, but that's pretty much it. It doesn't soar, and probably doesn't need to, but it isn't necessarily the most memorable feature. Watchable.