CODA (Sian Heder, 2021)

Why no thread for this wonderful movie? I just watched it tonight and teared up at least three times.

I am rooting for an Oscar win of best supporting actor. The father's performance is one of my favorites of the year. Let's get this campaign going.

 

One of my favorites from last year, I’ve been meaning to rewatch it.

 

I never cry at movies, but this had me tear up. One of the best movies I’ve seen in a while.

 

Wow, only 2 replies. This was fine. Emilia gave an endearing performance. The family was funny, I just hope I was laughing with them more than at them.

probably could have done with cutting it down closer to a 90 minute run time though.

 

i enjoyed this but i frankly find the convo around it (elsewhere) kinda baffling. it was pleasant and enjoyable! i probably won’t think about it a year from now.

 

It was filmed in Gloucester MA, apparently, said the news today.

 

this would work really well on the stage

 

you think they're hedging their bets by not waiting until after the awards to announce this?

 

it’s gonna win, i’m convinced

 

It's 100% going to win. At least Jane will get Best Director though.

 

Why are kids in movies always sitting politely until the bell rings? In real school they start trying to pack up with ten minutes left and stand at the door like zombies.

 

I really enjoyed this, not gonna lie. Maybe my favorite of the nominees.

 

Haha, only a fellow teacher would notice this. Definitely one of my pet peeves.

 

You can't escape it once you have been doing it for a while. The same goes for the music teacher apparently having private, one-on-one tutoring at his house? We aren't even supposed to close our classroom door if it is just one student in the room.

 

Enjoyed this a lot. A little melodramatic at times/some of the drama felt contrived, buuut it was just really sweet.

 

This was just a Lifetime movie with a deaf coat of paint on top of it. You have the eccentric but caring teacher, the kooky dad who farts and talks about sex when it is inappropriate, the family all banding together. It is essentially the same movie if the family is just poor, or Central American undocumented workers, or any other sort of challenge you want to put up.

The central conflict is supposed to be Ruby's duty to help her family versus her desire to sing. If she goes to college, her family business will fail, but if she stays, she will be unhappy. The film doesn't even bother to come up with a deus ex machina; she goes to college at the last minute but every single business challenge solves itself in a montage. Since there were no stakes, there wasn't much need for a story.

It's a little bit better than a Lifetime movie because it is better acted, but the camera is just about as lifeless and static as a made-for-TV film. It made me think about October Sky (a movie we were forced to watch a dozen times in school), a nearly identical film that just flips fishing to coal mining and singing to rockets. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the brother, who instead of being antagonistic toward his sister out of jealousy of her hearing, is largely more supportive of her than his parents. However, unless I am mixing up characters, the film suggests that he starts dating Ruby's friend Gertie, who is in high school at the time. They already established that she sexually pursues her teachers, which is played as a throwaway gag for some reason. The "we roll deep" line is the biggest eye roll of the film, but it isn't as bad as Belfast or Don't Look Up.

 

yea I got some lifetime vibes haha

 

Definitely a feel good movie with a formulaic approach. I don’t agree that the movie would be the same if the family “were poor or Central American undocumented workers.” The entire focus of the film is that this a deaf family and so much of it deals with deafness and the systemic failure in providing for differently-abled people. You can’t erase / replace one oppressed group for another—those details are important and make this film what it is and why it matters to people.

 

that is pretty close to exactly how i feel about this as well but instead of leading to me hating it i simply think it’s fine like a rational person

 

The mother even says that if she is blind it would be a movie about a painter. The movie is about a young adult chasing their dreams despite coming from a difficult situation.

 

it's Hallmark not Lifetime, Hallmark are the happy ones Lifetime are the depressing ones haha

 

I mean, sure, but I don’t think that’s why people like the movie. Or at least not why I liked itZ The plot structure is a tried and true formula, but the fact deafness plays a central role and there’s a largely deaf cast is what draws people to this movie. That scene when Ruby sings to her father and he feels her voicebox to listen is so good. Stuff like that is what made this film memorable.

 

People like the movie because it tugs at your heartstrings, like it is designed to do. Unless you are a sociopath you are going to have some reaction to the father and the vocal cords or the final performance at the college or when she is driving away at the end. That kind of stuff has been perfected by Hollywood over decades. It is a movie all of our mothers will love. The problem is what comes after. There has already been criticism from other deaf people about the movie getting basic things wrong, like not being provided an interpreter when the family is literally attending a legal hearing, and the idea that deaf people can't understand why people like music just because they themselves can't hear it.

Apple spent a lot of money marketing a movie that was mostly languishing in obscurity on their platform, and they are probably going to win Best Picture. People will watch it and cry, but between the general mediocrity of the film and the reality of being stuck on a far less popular streaming platform, the ceiling is very low.

 

It is bizarre to me that this movie is getting a lot of praise as groundbreaking for centering deafness and all when a far better, more interesting movie about deafness got a ton of Oscar noms literally just last year

 

The brother was actually more interesting than that: it’s not simply that he supports her and the parents don’t, it’s that everyone in the family (including Ruby) had come to see their life as being dependent on Ruby’s assistance. Whereas the brother resents the idea that they can’t be self-sufficient without her, and makes the obvious point that there was clearly a time *before* Ruby could act as their 24/7 interpreter, and they got along fine back then