Oscar 2022 nominee “CODA” celebrates the importance of family, offers nothing woke, and deserves to win “Best Picture” of the year at the 2022 Academy Awards on Sunday.
Before we get into all the reasons this movie is going pull at your heart-strings and make you fall in love again with movies, let’s break down what it’s about. “CODA” is an acronym for Child Of Deaf Adults and it’s based on the 2014 French film “La Famille Belier.” The American version is different than the French version, which offered only one deaf performer, reported RogerEbert.com previously.
‘CODA’ Surge Might Prove Oscars Are Looking for Joy During Pandemic and War https://t.co/hn9iH48iVr
— Variety (@Variety) March 23, 2022
“CODA” director Sian Heder brings three incredibly talented real-life deaf actors to take on the lead family member roles of this film: Academy award-winner actress Marlee Matlin as wife/mother Jackie Rossi, husband/father Frank Rossi is played brilliantly by Troy Kotsur, and their son Leo Rossi, played by Daniel Durant. All three are deaf and wrapping up this family is Emilia Jones, who takes on the role of 17-year-old daughter/sister Ruby. She has spent her entire life interpreting her family’s entire world for them.
It originally debuted on Apple TV+ and in theaters globally, reported MovieWeb.com.
The plot summary on IMDb reads:
As a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) Ruby is the only hearing person in her deaf family. When the family’s fishing business is threatened, Ruby finds herself torn between pursuing her love of music by wanting to go to Berklee College of Music and her fear of abandoning her parents.
This film finds a perfect balance between bringing the audience along for each of the main characters trying and touching moments. This isn’t a movie that pushes an agenda, any political viewpoints or social justice issues. It’s just about a family and their love for each other that gets them through their personal struggles to a better place.
The opening scene is three of the family members out on the waters on a fishing boat near where they live in Cape Ann in northeastern Massachusetts. Jones is singing and she’s belting the notes out, making it clear the actress has an incredible voice. It is here we learn the family’s business is fishing and soon find out she also acts as their ears to what’s going on in their world completely.
The villains in the film are the “Feds,” who force the fishermen to pay $800 every time they go out on the water. It is because of that federal government’s intrusion that the Rossis eventually decide to sell their own fish and start up their own business, bypassing the government/auction. The family also ends up in trouble, at one point, for not having a hearing person on their boat when the Coast Guard arrives. They must pay a massive fine just to get back out on the water to earn a living.
There’s the coming-of-age part of the story as Ruby decides to join her high school choir and gets paired up with the boy she likes Miles (played by Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) for a duet for the upcoming fall concert show. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but they eventually learn to work together after a few rocky first steps.
Joining the choir also brings her to develop a friendship with the choir teacher Bernardo Villalobos, ie. Mr. V, played by comedic actor Eugenio Derbez. Derbez finds the right mix of being supportive, funny and tough. Mr. V soon encourages Ruby to try out for admittance into Boston’s Berkelee College of Music. He offers to train her nights and weekends in order to help her qualify. And that is where a whole host of struggles arise — as she attempts to juggle everything her family has come to rely on her for, from their new startup up business to starting to reach for her own dreams of going to college.
Director Sian Heder offers some truly moving moments in which the filmgoers get pulled into this family’s struggles. One such moment occurs when Ruby’s family comes to her fall concert and the camera takes on the perspective of her deaf parents, as everything becomes silent. It is truly captivating how they learn about their daughter’s singing ability by looking around the room to see how others react to her.
Jones and Kotsur also share a touching scene while trying to find common ground. It’s no wonder Kotsur is up for Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards — and is considered a front-runner after already taking home Best Supporting Actor at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the British Academy Film Awards and the Critics’ Choice Awards, reported the Hollywood Reporter.
Now to be clear you aren’t going to watch this with your kindergartener. This is for families with older kids. The reason is because there are a number of curse words in A.S.L., (American Sign Language), there’s Ruby’s friend, (Gertie, played by Amy Forsyth) who is promiscuous and a few reference to smoking marijuana. There are also a few sex references — like one when Jones’ character translates a doctor’s diagnosis of “jock itch” for her parents and another when Ruby has a friend over (Miles) and her parents are loudly having sex in the other room. We see them with clothes on, but on top of each other. There is also a part where Gertie shares her interest in Leo but Ruby teaches her to sign that she has a sexually transmitted disease instead of that she’s interested in dating him. Gertie and Leo end up texting each other and making out in a storage room at a bar.
The movie has won at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, Critics Choice Awards and now up for is up several nominations at the Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor for Kotsur. It has a total of seven wins with 16 nominations in all, reported Forbes.
And according to movie critics sites like Rotten Tomatoes, this movie is loved equally by critics and moviegoers which is definitely rare, with a 95% from film reviewers and an audience score of 93%.
It’s truly a beautiful story about family and struggling to find ones place in the world and deserves to win Sunday.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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