APRIL 2022:
Love in Sign Language…
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. My recommendation is to see this movie. I can’t use sign language to count or tell you why. So I’ll just write it instead. I can’t stop telling you guys how much I loved this movie. If you take away all my personal reasons for loving this movie, it’s still so lovable. You can still find something to love about this movie without me telling you what you should love. There is so much to work with in this movie that you can surely find something to love!
Maybe you just love movies about fishing or Gloucester, MA. Then you would love this movie. Or Even, maybe you love Marlee Matlin and have watched her in everything she has done. Then you would love her in this movie. Could be you love movies that focus on singing and music. Well, this movie is definitely for you. Or Maybe you’re deaf and looking for a movie that represents your life experience on film. This is a movie for you that you will love after you watch. I could go on like this, but I won’t.
Fishing for Great Love…
The movie is just a great story being told. You may not get up at 3 am and fish like Ruby, Frank and Leo do, but maybe you have a daughter in her senior year who is about to go off to college. You can relate to the Rossi Family and the emotional endurance that comes with sending your child away to school. To go through the experience the family does with their business, does not strictly pertain to the fishing industry. Any family owned business has probably at some point faced the decisions the Rossi Family face. Maybe they were deaf and those decisions were the same. But maybe it’s a hearing family with the business, but the reaction is all the same as you watched CODA. The movie is such a feel good story, a happy make you cry from the gut story. There is no pizzazz or fancy dancing footwork to go with the singing but you still enjoy every scene with Mr. V and Ruby practicing. You can’t wait to watch it all come together in a concert at some point.
Love’s Sound…
Another great thing about this movie. The music. Aside from the score music originally composed, most of the songs for the film’s soundtrack are provided by Emilia Jones‘s character Ruby Rossi singing, or when Ruby has her earbuds in. We hear that music over the screen like we are ears. I loved all of the music. The collection is very eclectic in terms of style and artist. The film spreads the music so well in the film and focuses on two songs in particular. Those two songs are symbolic of the film itself. They are replayed and chosen by Ruby or Mr. V as songs she will sing and focus on. But they tell the heart of the story and what ‘CODA’ is really about deep down. Wipe away the deaf storyline and the inclusion and the fishing and you get two songs. “Your All I Need To Get By” and “Both Sides Now“.
Love Conveyed…
These two songs best tell the story of Ruby and the Rossi’s. While she sees the world from both sides now and gets frustrated with her family and her responsibility in it, she knows that her family is all she needs to get by. Whatever comes to pass the Rossi family takes on the challenge together just as any family would. Deaf or Hearing.
I have included the two songs from CODA below: