I was going to open this review by describing Coda as “A Quiet Place without the monsters,” when I realized that I could also describe it as “The Shape of Water without the monster,” which made me think more about why it is that so many movies that use sign language also happen to be sci-fi/horror genre films. (I’m not gonna leave out my homegirl Amaya from The Last Dragon Prince either.) Why can’t peeps just sign?
And if you feel similarly, I am obliged to mention there is a very cool festival just for you coming out in a little over a month called Superfest, sponsored by the good folks at the Paul K Longmore Institute on Disability (“it will make you feel all the feels, with the exception of inspiration porn disgust“). Some of the movies that caught my eye, especially, if you, like me liked Aziz Ansari’s Master of None “New York, I Love You” episode and were looking for some conceptually innovative shows, maybe a comedy, that include ASL: Eyal Resh’s short film See Through, Angry Deaf People Production’s short film Hamburger Airplane (linked here to watch at your leisure), and an encore presentation of a different Coda from 2019 that looks like a cross between The Fits (2015) and Whiplash (2014).
Which is all just to say that there are a bounty of filmmakers, actors, and storytellers who are out there and ready to put their own magic into old templates like the high school movie. My older brother actually recommended this movie to me because he knows that I adore high school movies. He also knew that Wife and I have been for the past few weeks running our very own karaoke bar in the house in order to put our young emotional terrorist to sleep. Update on that as of Sept 8, she is finally starting to sleep through the night with minimal interruptions or hellfire. At any rate, the duet in Coda is food for the soul of anyone who is looking for another summer bop in the vein of Wild Rose or Sing Street.
Coda is a remake, I am told, which may explain some of its limitations as a storytelling device. It’s hard to tell a new story when you’re using old material was Brother’s take, and Mom who watched with me on one of her last days before going home ended while I was in tears and said that it was “a nice made-for-television movie,” which really popped any illusions I had about Coda’s ability to pierce the hearts of the general public.
The coverage of this film–in PBS Newshour’s and NPR‘s interview with all around cool dad Troy Kotsur–is well deserved, even if those critics found Coda to be a guilty “feel-good” pleasure and “formulaic.” Do everyone a solid and check out a few more films at Superfest before you pass judgement about Coda, for good or for ill.
