For a movie so focused on sound, it’s shocking that CODA’s lighting stands out. The film takes place in Gloucester, Massachusetts, not far from the setting of Manchester by the Sea. While that film’s locations seemed cold and unforgiving, CODA is bathed in a warm orange glow. It’s an inviting and lived-in movie that earns its tearjerkers as much as it does its laughs.
CODA focuses on Ruby, a high schooler who is the only hearing child in a Deaf family. Ruby is a talented singer and the plot hinges on her balancing her duties to her family and her desire to get into the Berklee College of Music. It’s by no means an inventive or unique plot, but it’s well-executed. Hearing actor Emilia Young plays the main character; the rest of her family is played by Deaf actors Troy Kotsur, Daniel Durant and Academy Award winner Marlee Matlin.
There’s a knowing sincerity to the film that keeps it from becoming manipulative or overly saccharine. The script puts fully realized and fallible characters on screen. No one in the movie is a saint to be held above everyone else or a martyr who can’t care for themselves. So many films featuring people with disabilities try to make them seem like perfect angels, but CODA doesn’t. It’s quite refreshing.
The movie is also *very funny*. The need for translation is the film’s greatest comedic weapon. Several moments of Ruby’s translating had me in stitches because of conveniently missing information or things she adds.
The actors elevate the material even further. There isn’t one particular “standout” performance, because they’re all that good. Jones nails the tension of being split between two worlds, translating and switching between specific modes of existing on a dime. It can be frustrating, and Jones’ performance puts that frustration on full display, especially when Ruby is angry at her parents.
Marlee Matlin also proves that she still has it, 35 years from her Oscar win for Children of a Lesser God. She has to sign some truly heartbreaking things, but she never overdoes it. She lets her eyes say so much and give the audience a window into her character’s feelings the spoken word can’t hope to match.
The same can be said for Troy Kotsur, who gives what can be called my “favorite” performance. His performance is a high-wire act, balancing the larger expressions required because of his Deafness and the quieter interiority his character has. Kotsur is a master at saying so much with so little. It’s a gripping performance that can and should be held up as a model performance.
CODA is one of the year’s best comfort movies. It’s something that can be returned to again and again, even if only to hear the stunning cover in its most climactic scene.
Final score: 8.9/10