CODA Review

CODA is a formulaic and syrupy sweet film. It’s also perfectly designed to be a crowd pleaser – and it’s nearly impossible to not become charmed by its wonderful cast and the familiar path of its story. In short, you will almost certainly find yourself swept away by this story of a young woman who longs to forge her own path, but who is worried that doing so will leave her family without the support they have had from her for so long.

CODA, which stands for Child of Deaf Adults – the term used to describe hearing children of deaf parents– tells the story of Ruby Rossi (the excellent Emilia Jones), a high school senior in Glouchester, MA, who spends her mornings alongside her brother and father on their family fishing boat and the rest of her day trying to make it through high school. Her one solace is music – she loves to sing, and when she sees the boy she has a crush on (who is tangentially a part of the popular group who have ostracized Ruby her whole life) sign up for choir, she takes the plunge and does so as well. This puts her in the orbit of Mr. V (Eugenio Derbez, who is a spark of light in the film and steals all his scenes), who, you guessed it, sees something special within her and offers to give her private lessons to prep her for an audition for the Berklee College of Music. Of course, her commitment to her family’s fishing boat – and their struggle to start a new business – means that Ruby will be forced to choose between being the interpreter her parents need and pursuing her dream of studying music.

Like I said, CODA isn’t anything that you haven’t seen before from a story perspective. But its execution is so spot-on, from the fun and light script, the great performances, and the feel-good ending, this is a film you will enjoy watching. This story wouldn’t work – and would drown in sweetness – without its cast to keep things a bit on the edge. In addition to Jones and Derbez, the film stars Troy Kotsur and Marlee Matlin as Ruby’s randy (it’s a hilarious plot point) parents (both are just sensational, hitting the comedy and the key emotional scenes with just the right amount of energy), and Daniel Durant as Ruby’s older brother, Leo, who wants to strike out on his own, too – without his little sister serving as his interpreter everywhere he goes. The film is adapted from the French film La Familie Bélier, however, unlike the French film, CODA uses actual deaf actors to portray the deaf characters within the story – a great improvement and something that grounds the story.

There’s nothing in the film that will surprise you, but the story flows nicely over the course of its 90-minute run time. The family dynamic feels realistic and lived in – a combination of a script that trusts that the audience will understand the family bond and a cast that has an easy chemistry with each other – and you can’t help but root for them all to succeed. You want Ruby to live her dreams, but you also want her family to thrive without her there to act as their conduit to the hearing world. It’s a delicate balance to keep both through lines running – as conflict naturally puts those two wants at odds – but writer-director Sian Heder succeeds.

If you’re looking for a nice film to hunker down and watch this weekend, CODA fits the bill. It’s not reinventing the wheel, but it knows what it is and does it well.

CODA is currently streaming on AppleTV+.