CODA (2021)

 Go see this film, it was brilliant.

Sure, the concept is basic enough, teenage girl discovers a rare talent for singing and decides to try to get into an elite college to hone her skills, that's nothing new but this film offers a twist: her entire family is deaf, her father, Frank (Best Supporting Actor winner Troy Kotsur), mom Jackie (Marlee Matlin) and older brother, Leo (Daniel Durant). While they are a loving family, they are rather close, working on the fishing business as a family; however, they do rely heavily on Ruby (Emilia Jones) to translate for them, be their guiding hand with the hearing world, and she has far too much responsibility for a teenager. And her parents aren't really supportive of what she wants to do, needing her to help them. Eventually Leo gets to be on her side, mainly because he wants to be independent without having to get Ruby to hold his hand every step of the way. 

And while he wants to make it on his own, though still at the family business, it takes her parents a bit longer, in one of the most touching scenes I've ever seen, she sings just for her father and Kotsur was superb in that scene, the one that likely won him his Oscar and he changes his mind. So yes, this film has a happy ending, which are the best, but still had an open-ended ending, as who knows how Ruby really will do at college because though she rocked her audience, brilliantly combining sign language with a great Joni Mitchell song, her family managed to sneak into the theater, always there to support her once they finally understand. 

Now while this is not a perfect film, I mean, how were they able to find the money to keep their fishing boat afloat, and it was rather foolish of Fran and Leo to go out on sea without a hearing person and yes it was rude of Ruby to leave them high and dry, despite their complete reliance on her, but after seeing so many films, this film managed to move me and leave me shook, lingering with me long after I left the theater. I laughed and I cried, so this was a fabulous film. With brilliant acting and great screenplay (despite the minor plot holes that would only bother someone like me), realistic set and great songs, this film is truly the best film of the year and fully deserved the three Oscars it won, including Best Picture. Grade: A

Side Notes:

-Both Ruby and Leo have love interests, both are rather clique, but done to great effect.

-Ruby has Miles (Sing Street's Ferdia Walsh-Peelo), who has spent years working on his skills, but unlike some, he respects Ruby, until his horrible mistake. 

-Rub's best friend is Gertie (Amy Forsyth) and she hooks up with Leo, though Ruby is less than thrilled. They communicate via text message before a hot make-out session. 

-The funniest scene by far is when Miles and Ruby are rehearsing for their duet and her parents start having sex and then proceed to grill Miles on his intentions with Ruby.  Though Ruby is mortified by her parents' actions, Miles says she should be grateful that they still love each other. True, but you never want to think about your parents having sex. 

-Though the film was rather serious and demonstrated just how difficult it was for deaf people to get by in the real world, especially since the real world is not ready to accommodate deaf citizens, which is a shame, we need to do better, there are also plenty of hilarious moments, mixed in with tragic ones. 

-Ferdia Walsh-Peelo starred in 2016's great underrated film, Sing Street which would actually make a great companion film to this one where a band misfits form a band all to impress a girl. There are some great original songs in this film.

-While I've never heard of Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now, that song has some truly beautiful lyrics. 

-ASL classes should be more widely available and encouraged. 

-When Mr. V (Eugenio Derbez) asks Ruby what singing is like for her, she expresses herself in ASL. 

-I appreciate the use of subtitles throughout, it was great. 

-The use of sound editing was also overly effective. 

-I couldn't believe that this film wasn't based on a YA book, but rather a French film. 

-Frank informs the doctor that he's unable to abstain from sex for two weeks with Jackie despite it being detrimental to his health.