Movie Name: CODA
Language: English, ASL with subtitles
Channel: Apple TV
Genre: Slice of life, musical
Recommended: Must watch. My best movie of 2024 thus far
There is a certain thrill to watching a movie on a weekday, after a busy day at work. It is one part playing hooky and many parts just the thrill of being able to live a ‘whole life’ in a day I think. That was CODA for me this week on a Tuesday evening. I could not have picked a better movie to celebrate with.
CODA is a complete movie. It checked all the boxes for a great movie, that used meticulous detail in its execution but did not lose its magic in presentation.
CODA is an acronym for Child/Children of Deaf Adults. That is what the movie was all about. The deaf couple had 2 children, their older son was also born deaf. Their younger child, a daughter, is not deaf. In addition, she is gifted with an amazing talent — her voice. The movie centers around how the family navigates to help her achieve her singing dreams. A reminder — the rest of the family is deaf and can’t hear her.
However, this movie is so much more than a singing talent achieving her dreams.
Before you watch this movie, close your eyes and imagine what a typical morning in this family would look like. Based on my description above, imagine a daily breakfast scene in this family. Waking up, getting breakfast ready, getting the adults to work, the younger child to school, etc. Then extend it to their life and imagine bills to be paid (both adults are gainfully employed), hobbies, family times, vacations, and any other thing that comes to your mind from the mundane. Grocery shopping, watching a game in a sports bar, whatever.
Then watch this movie. And let yourself be blown away by how everything is shown. The normalcy of their reality and the reality of their normal life is where this movie shines.
In one of the finest screenplay narrations I have seen, one that lets the characters and story shine and not the dialogues (for obvious reasons), this story is simultaneously one you can identify with and one you can enjoy as a movie. They wrote a story keeping the deaf actors in mind and picked the actors keeping the story in mind. I can't imagine anyone else in these roles and at some level, I can't imagine these characters in any other role. The characters are people who could be around you. Their deafness (or not) is just another adjective. Some of us are shorter, taller, darker skinned, have poorer /better eyesight, or hear less/more than others. CODA brings that message home with an endearing, brilliantly narrated, beautifully acted story.
This movie won the Oscar for Best Picture, Supporting Actor, and Screenplay and richly deserved it. It should also have won Best Actress and Best Director. This is a masterpiece, you should not miss. Available for free on Prime now. Go Go Go to your TV. Go