Sundance Film Festival movie review: 'CODA'
The sweetly engaging and endearing family drama 'CODA' (premiering at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival) finds the child of deaf adults at a crossroads in life, conflicted between her obligation and her love.
In short: Ruby Rossi (Emilia Jones), the only hearing member of a deaf family, is torn between obligation to family and pursuit of her love for music. Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo and Eugenio Derbez also star.
Ruby is constantly the outlier in her world. She's the only person in her family who can hear or speak. While her fellow students are care-free high school students, Ruby spends her free time outside class pulling fish nets up aboard her family's fishing boat. Even in choir class, she's simultaneously the most talented in her class and the least comfortable around her fellow students. Jones finds the perfect balance between awkward teen, mortified daughter and soulful songbird.
Jones has all the talent to put this dramedy on her back - but a strong supporting cast helps carry the film. Eugenio Derbez absolutely steals every scene as Rudy's firm but encouraging choir teacher. 'Sing Street' star Ferdia Walsh-Peelo is well cast as the adorable love interest - even if he unfortunately doesn't get to do a lot in the film. Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur and Daniel Durant find the harmony between a family too comfortable relying on Ruby as their live-in interpreter and a genuinely lovely family struggling to imagine life without Ruby. On paper, some of their choices seem quite selfish, the script always empathizes with Ruby's family as they realize just how dependent they are on their youngest child for daily life - and what it means to slowly realize their little girl is growing into her own.
'CODA' relies a bit too hard on plot turns that border on melodrama. There's inherent drama just in forcing Ruby into the position of even feeling like she has to choose between family and her future. That's literally the core theme of many great stories. 'CODA' muddles the film up with some slight plot contrivances that needlessly exaggerate the forces pulling Ruby in two different directions. It's not enough that she loves to sing - she is given a once-in-a-lifetime chance to pursue a dream. And it's not enough that she's a part of her family business - the very future of her family's business apparently hinges on her working on a fishing boat. Dialing back these two plot threads a little would have given more time to explore more of the facets of life as the child of deaf adults.
Final verdict: Writer-director Sian Heder's follow-up to 'Tallulah' is a gently poignant family drama rooted in the unique experience of living without a fundamental sense.
Score: 3.5/5
'CODA' screens at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. This drama is not yet rated and has a running time of 111 minutes.
Directed by Sian Heder / Screenplay by Sian Heder / Music by Marius De Vries / Cinematography by Paula Huidobro / Film Editing by Geraud Brisson / Production Design by Diane Lederman / Starring Emilia Jones, Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo and Eugenio Derbez.
