CODA (2021) Review
I’ve officially made it halfway through the 2022 Best Picture nominees, this time we are talking about CODA. How is this movie? Let’s get started!
The Good:
This is probably the movie of 2021 that had the biggest heart in the center of it. It’s a movie that is so heartfelt and emotional at its core that it evokes a lot of emotions from you. Some of the moments in the last 20-30 minutes of the movie, I was getting misty eyed just watching what was happening on screen. Without giving too much away, the silent scene towards the end is one of the most emotional movie moments of 2021. If you’ve seen the movie, you know which one I’m talking about. But there are a number of scenes in this movie that evoke some big and powerful emotions from you.
While it’s also very heartfelt and emotional it’s also a movie that is very funny. While I think it’s the 2021 movie that has the biggest heart, I also think it’s one of the 2021 movies that I’ve laughed at the most. And every couple of minutes there is a nice joke that feels right. It breaks the tension at just the right moments to not under cut the drama of the movie. But it’s just played very nicely in certain scenes to lighten up the movie. Some of the stuff with the dad and the friend character was really funny in my opinion.
It’s a very thematic movie with a bunch of different themes and ideas being explored through-out. If you don’t know, CODA stands for Child of Deaf Adults. So ¾ of this family deaf, and the daughter is not deaf. So it explores a bunch of ideas and how the town would treat this family. But it also has themes about pursuing your dreams and family. And all of it ties back to that emotional core that I mentioned earlier.
Also, the cast and the characters are very well rounded. The lead character is so hopeful and charming that you want her to succeed. You want her to be successful in her journey in the movie. Troy Kotsure did get nominated for an Oscar for his performance in this movie, he was certainly a stand-out in this movie. He’s who I want to win, let’s see what happens. You also have Eugenio Derbez, this hispanic comedic actor who is so naturally funny and charming that he was fun to see on screen, and just a nice touch to the whole thing. But honestly, all of the characters here were very good, there isn’t an obvious bad character in this movie.
Finally, the movie does have a surprisingly good soundtrack. I say surprisingly because I wasn’t really expecting to like the soundtrack as much as I did. And the songs do tie into the movie itself, but they are really good songs that you’ve heard but don't always remember.
The Bad:
And honestly the only thing here is of the members of the family, the mom felt the least interesting to me. Her arc in the movie was probably the least emotional for me. It wasn’t bad by any means. But compared to the daughter’s, father’s and brother’s arc in the movie it wasn’t quite as good.
Final Thoughts: CODA is a pretty fantastic movie with lots of emotions, laughs, and great characters played by really solid actors. So honestly, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie more than I thought I would. And as of now...easily my favorite of the best picture nominees.
The Score: 9.3/10 (A)
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