CODA: A heartwarming treasure

CODA (2021) • View trailer

Four stars (out of five). Rated PG-13, for frequent sexual candor and amusing profanity

Available via: Movie theaters and Apple TV+

By Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 8.20.21

If you’ve been dismayed by the absence of real people and relatable stories in recent films, you’ll love this one.

 

Ruby (Emilia Jones, left) is mortified when she's forced to vividly translate the intimate,
ah, "medical problem" that is plaguing her parents (Troy Kotsur and Marlee Matlin),
while a mildly amused doctor takes in every detail.

Writer/director Sian Heder’s richly nuanced CODA — say it as a word, not an acronym — is a sure cure for the summer blockbuster blues. Her warmly sensitive script is populated by engaging characters brought persuasively to life by a cast of talented (and mostly unrecognized) actors. The resulting coming-of-age story has more depth than most; it’s the wry, frequently funny and occasionally shattering saga of a teenage girl struggling between family loyalty and finding her own bliss.

The setting is modern-day Gloucester, Mass. Ruby Rossi (Emilia Jones) wakens each day at 3 a.m., in order to join her father Frank (Troy Kotsur) and slightly older brother Leo (Daniel Durant) on the family’s fishing boat; the daily catch keeps a roof over their heads. Ruby’s participation is essential, because she’s the conduit to all the buyers and other fisherman; she’s her family’s sole hearing member (which is to say, a Child Of Deaf Adults).

 

Her father, mother (Marlee Matlin, as Jackie) and brother are culturally deaf, relying on sign language to communicate with each other, and with Ruby … and relying on her as interpreter (which can get embarrassing during, say, visits to a doctor).

 

After each early morning’s ocean excursion, Ruby bicycles to the local high school, where she tries to avoid falling asleep during her senior year classes. She’s long been the target of cruel taunts, in part due to her “weird” family, and also because she often arrives smelling strongly of fish. Best — and only — friend Gertie (Amy Forsyth) is her sole salvation.

 

The plan, up to this point, has been for Ruby to join the family business full-time after graduation: something she never has thought to question.

 

But one otherwise ordinary day, as all students select an elective class, she impulsively signs up for choir … mostly because she has been silently crushing on Miles (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo), who also did so. Truth be told, Ruby has grown up adoring all sorts of music, particularly that of obscure pop/rock bands.

 

The first choir session is deeply intimidating, thanks to the flamboyantly formal behavior of instructor Bernardo Villalobos (Eugenio Derbez, who deserves an Oscar nomination). His almost regal bearing would elicit snickers of derision, if he weren’t also so damn intimidating. But that’s all surface; it quickly becomes apparent that he’s one of those sublimely talented teachers who makes a difference in young lives.

 

He quickly recognizes that Ruby is talented. Quite talented. Even if it takes her awhile to accept this opinion.