“CODA” film recap

I watched the film “CODA” last night, which had three deaf people in key roles: Marlee Matlin and Troy Kotsur as deaf parents and Daniel Durant as an adult deaf son. The main role is a hearing actor, Emilia Jones, who played a Coda daughter who is about to finish high school and is trying to decide what to do with her life.

The film is a part of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival lineup and the film is available to watch online from your homes, but single film tickets for CODA are currently sold out.

The film has captions — not burned in subtitles — but closed captions that you can turn on or off.

The deaf members of the family, the Rossis, are struggling with their fishing boat business in a small New England town and are overly dependent on Jones’ character to communicate with the hearing world.

In the film, Jones is seen interpreting for her parents in a doctor’s appointment, in business settings, in the school setting, and in legal settings. Clearly, it’s not appropriate to use a child as an interpreter, but it’s what happens in the film’s world, and it often does happen in the real world.

Kotsur’s character is very entertaining to watch because he often uses what feels like poetic ASL when he tries to make his point across to other characters. The character uses graphic and vulgar remarks or even includes deaf jokes such as “farts smell so deaf people can enjoy them.”

Matlin’s character doesn’t appear as much in the first half of the film, but her role becomes stronger in the second half. She delivers the frustration that a deaf person may feel with being left out with one of her lines saying, “hearing bitches.” In one touching scene, she provides a perspective of what a deaf parent feels when they find out their child is hearing.

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Durant’s character is set as a contrast from Jones’ role. He is trying to become independent in the hearing world, but finds himself oppressed and has some simmering anger that he keeps inside with a steely, cool exterior. His character remains a constant from the beginning of the film through the end.

Jones’ character is one of constant conflict — she is pulled and pushed in all directions from her deaf family who needs her, mean girls in high school who makes deaf voices as a prank, and her music teacher who believes she has an incredible singing talent that she’s holding back. She signs throughout the film and her ASL delivery is clear.

The film has a lot of scenes involving music and singing and it can cause deaf audiences to feel disconnected. The film explores that with the deaf family not being able to fully appreciate Jones’ talent.

The performances by Kotsur, Matlin, and Durant makes the film worth watching. They carried the film along with Jones’ character.

So, what is next for CODA? We’ll see if one of the big distributors such as Netflix or Amazon or HBO makes an order, and then the film will be available to watch on their platforms.

https://tickets.festival.sundance.org/