Personally, my husband and I believe this offering contains the best movie scene of the year. It features Joni Mitchell’s lovely “Both Sides Now” sung better than we’ve ever seen or heard before.
CODA stands for Child of Deaf Adults, and the main character, Ruby Rossi (played beautifully by Emilia Jones) happens to be a CODA. The movie follows the challenges of a 17-year-old as she realizes her musical talent and tries to make her family understand her serious interest in music.
“It’s like a daughter of a blind mother wanting to be an artist,” says her mom Jackie (portrayed by Marlee Matlin). Her dad Frank (played by Troy Kotsur, who won Best Supporting Actor) seems more sympathetic, but he knows how much they need Ruby to help with their fishing business. It’s a bad time for the business and things are not going well financially.
CODA inspired my heart to sing.
It gave me hope and a tingling.
My own hearing is almost gone.
And hearing people help me along
It’s dear ones translating for me.
What a burden that job must be!
I understand Ruby’s dire plight.
How will she make things turn out right?
She needs to help her family.
They all are deaf -- but not Ruby. .
She’s helped them for most of her life.
But without music, she’ll live with strife.
Coming-of-age and music too,
this dramedy should work for you.
The film boasts laughs and love and tears.
It’s one I’m glad to give loud cheers!
Director Sian Heder, who also won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar®, wisely picked deaf actors for three key roles here. Matlin, Kotsur and Daniel Durant (as Ruby’s brother) add realism to the family scenes. A place in history resulted for CODA because it’s the first time a deaf male actor (Kutsor) won an Oscar®. And, of course, his co-star Matlin already made history many years ago when she earned a Best Leading Actress Oscar® for her wonderful performance in Children of a Lesser God.
Let’s not forget Emilia Jones, who learned ASL before sinking her teeth into the role of Ruby and who shares her priceless singing voice with us in this widely acclaimed motion picture.
(Released by Apple + and rated “PG-13” by MPAA.)
Like you, I am losing my hearing, but have not yet tried hearing aids. My mother's gradually getting worse hearing ended up with her being totally deaf. And with aphasia, finally becoming public with Bruce Willis, communication for her became a nightmare.
While I became active with disabled groups by 2000 and they were always there at rallies, the deaf tended to stay apart because of the uniqueness of their disability. I always watched ALS with wonder because I couldn't imagine doing it with my paralyzed arms and hands. I am so grateful for closed captioning because it helps me watching TV shows and movies so much. Fortunately, I still can hear music quite well, except rap or other fast lyrics that I failed to pick up because of their speed.
When my girlfriend, a nurse at the Stanford Hospital where they were working on developing the first heart transplant, decided to go around the world and spent a year, I let her go, wishing that I had the money and gumption to do that. But when she was in Australia I wrote her a letter that she threw in Sydney Bay and never communicated with me again. Returning to her childhood home in Saskatoon and marrying a schoolteacher.
Her friend and fellow nurse stayed back in the Bay Area and kept me posted where she was. About the time she returned to Saskatoon I was entranced by Both Sides Now by Judy Collins, and sent her the record. She never responded. I don't believe I even knew at that time that Joni Mitchell was the songwriter and was from Saskatoon as well.
Ron