From start to finish, “CODA” is a delight. Siân Heder’s second feature is heartfelt, laugh-out-loud funny, and everything I’d hoped it would be after reading about its ecstatic reception out of Sundance.
“There are plenty of pretty voices with nothing to say. Do you have something to say?” 17-year-old Ruby Rossi (Emilia Jones) is asked towards the beginning of the film. The coming-of-age drama sees the highschooler figuring out what she wants to say and how she wants to say it. The only hearing member of a Deaf family, Ruby has spent her entire life acting as an interpreter for her mother (Marlee Matlin), father (Troy Kotsur), and older brother (Daniel Durant). When she joins her high school’s choir club and discovers a passion for singing, she begins to reevaluate her identity, and question her decision to orient her life around her family and their fishing business.
Ruby’s choirmaster (Eugenio Derbez) has been coaching for Berklee College of Music and is dedicated to helping her get a scholarship. Torn between the overwhelming sense of obligation she feels towards her family and her own dreams, Ruby finds herself at a crossroads.
“CODA” tells a familiar underdog story and hits all the beats you’d expect, but it never feels tired or stale, thanks in part to its heavy use of sign language and the ways it encourages audiences to view the world through the Rossi family’s eyes. It’s a radically inclusive story that illustrates, painfully and viscerally, just how uninviting and inhospitable society is to members of the Deaf community. Jones’ star-making turn and a standout performance from Kotsur also set the film apart.
Heder told us she was “intrigued by the tension of a teenager trying to find her own identity as she straddles the hearing and the Deaf worlds.” The writer-director explained, “As someone who comes from a very loving, funny, but also boundary-less family, the search for your own identity as you separate from your parents was a theme that really resonated with me. It was a story that felt universal but also culturally specific. Through my research into the world of CODAs — Children of Deaf Adults — and the Deaf community, it became more and more important to me to authentically represent this Deaf family and Deaf culture in a way that isn’t often seen in movies.”
Asked what she’d like audiences to think about after watching the film, the “Tallulah” filmmaker responded, “I think many hearing people don’t have any experience of Deaf culture. People who have seen the film describe to me the powerful experience of watching scenes in American Sign Language, or ASL, and how any discomfort with that experience fades away as they become invested in the characters, their struggles, and their triumphs. While I hope that people see the story as universal and relatable, I also hope they leave the film with a new awareness and appreciation for ASL and Deaf culture,” she emphasized.
“CODA” is now playing in select theaters and streaming on Apple TV+.
