Movies: Coda (2021)

Apple’s original movie reviewed by Randy Goertzen

Apple’s original 2021 movie and Best Picture Oscar winner, Coda, treats the audience to an inspirational story with great acting and dialogue. In an age of mass market, special effects-driven movies, Coda entertains. I enjoyed it.

This compelling and well-crafted movie presents an extremely hard-working and headstrong high school student who faces a difficult decision. Does Ruby stay in Gloucester, Massachusetts to help her deaf family run their fishing business or does she pursue her passion? As a child of deaf adults—CODA—Ruby is integral to the hearing-impaired business because she’s the communication link to where the fish go to market.

I watched on a transcontinental flight on a small screen with ear jacks. Not the ideal way to watch a movie but I was still struck by its beauty. Coda effortlessly flows from scene to scene—each scene is purposeful in drawing out the storyline and deepening one’s understanding of the characters—using subtitles for deaf character dialogue. In an interesting side note, the film’s title is a word with another meaning which ties into its theme; coda also means a concluding passage of a piece of music.

The conflict, choosing to support the family versus pursuing self-interest, carries Coda’s plot.

Written and directed by Sian Heder, Apple’s movie features a mostly unknown cast except for Marlee Matlin who plays Ruby’s mother. Ruby (Emilia Jane), her romantic interest Miles (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo), Ruby’s brother Leo (Daniel Durant) and her father (scene-stealing Troy Kotsur, who won an Oscar for his performance, with hilarious facial expressions), are superb. Several scenes stand out, none more so than a scene in which Ruby’s father instructs his daughter’s love interest Miles to wear a condom with his wife and daughter in the room.

Heder does an excellent job of concretizing Ruby discovering, exploring and nurturing her nascent dream. As the high school music director, Bernardo, who’s instrumental in fostering Ruby’s talent, offering to tutor her, Eugenio Derbez gives Kotsur as the dad a run for his money as the most engaging character. As Ruby’s energetic, flamboyant and dramatic arts teacher, he exudes passion for his craft as he exhorts and prods his students, pushing them past their self-imposed limits. He urges Ruby to channel her emotions, especially her anger at people mocking deafness, into her singing. Ruby uses her teacher’s guidance to give a powerful performance.

Conversely, Ruby’s role in running commercial fishing is key; she negotiates better pricing, attends meetings and catches fish. In one poignant scene demonstrating her vital business role, Ruby must choose between fishing or rehearsal on the day an inspector boards the family boat to enforce fishing regulations. The scene dramatizes Ruby’s dilemma.

With Ruby desperately trying to figure out how to fit everything in, director Heder does a marvelous job of seamlessly weaving scenes, pulling the movie toward climax, which comes in a song which symbolizes the youthful struggle to choose between conflicting values. Does the girl choose family or passion—or a way to live in harmony with both? Will Ruby see “both sides now”? Coda’s worth watching to find out.