Coda Movie Review

This Deserved Best Picture

So, I just got back from seeing Coda, and it was amazing! This was the second attempt to see this film as the first time, someone booked the entire theater for a private screening.

I'm going to take from a summary from IMDB to summarize the plot: "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 passion at Berklee College of Music and her fear of abandoning her parents."

The acting was phenomenal, the cinematography was beautiful, and the story was human. The way this film is crafted is nothing short but excellent. I will not that not everything is 100% accurate, but for narrative reasons, I understand the choices they made.

The actors have amazing chemistry together. Everything feels natural between them and they all bring their characters to life. No performance fell flat. I perhaps would have liked to have seen some characters a little more, but the screen time they got, they did very well. Ruby as the protagonist was perhaps my favorite character.

The family dynamic felt very really. During the course of Coda's conflict, the film shows you everyone kind of has a point. No one is one hundred percent correct but given the circumstances you have a great understanding of why they take the positions that they do. Everyone felt fleshed out and it felt like a real family. I do think the family bond was really refreshing in Coda as it doesn't seem like many films have this strong core at the moment. Even though they might disagree or fight on occasion, they are always there to support each other.

This was was beautiful from a technical aspect as well. The cinematography was fantastic, and the color scheme was solid. How the film used music was effective and strong. The use of subtitles was a great choice and worked well for the overall experience of Coda. It was interesting to see a film embrace sign language, and it gave a great experience to the audience, since we don't see sign language used very much in film.

Overall, Coda is perhaps one of my favorite movies now. I hope it comes out on DVD, cause I can't wait to buy a copy. This film deserved it's Best Picture award, and I'm happy that I got the chance to see Coda, and I can't wait to see it again.

final score: 5/5