‘I was worried that we wouldn’t connect...’
If you haven’t already guessed, dear reader, I’m very much a completist when it comes to cinema. I’m obsessed with lists. I live for scrawled pencil lines dashed over various obscure film titles. Sure, this is occasionally to my detriment. Like the time I had to watch The Santa Claus 2 at midnight whilst absolutely shitfaced one time for reasons that are better left unexplored here. Anyway. It is this fixation that has led me to watch every film nominated for Best Picture every damn year. Based on description alone, Coda was one of this year’s nominees that felt like it might be a slog. Instead, it stands tall as proof of two things. One, that I am an idiot. And two, never judge a book by its cover, or indeed, a film by its synopsis…
Ruby Rossi (Emilia Jones) is a Child of Deaf Adults (CODA). This means she has to balance helping out her mum (Marlee Matlin) and dad (Troy Kotsur) with their fishing business, and dealing with her own auditions for the school choir – the latter led by her enigmatic tutor Bernando (Eugenio Derbez).
Let me be very clear about this. It’s not often I champion a young actor to the extent that I am about to here, but I know a star when I see one. Emilia Jones’ performance here made me feel the same way as I did watching Ryan Gosling in Half Nelson in 2006, or how I felt watching Jennifer Lawrence in Winter’s Bone in 2010, OR Brie Larson in Short Term 12 in 2013. Make no mistake about it, this kid is going to be a star. While she has been scandalously overlooked at this year’s Oscars, this is undoubtedly an incredible, mind-blowing performance. The sheer range of talent at play here is breath-taking. The frustration, the vulnerability, that singing voice. Jones has it all. Ok, so sure, while I genuinely did call Gosling, Lawrence and Larson many years before the Academy came calling for them, I did also predict similar things for Miles Teller… I guess you can’t win em’ all. Time will tell on this one.
CODA itself is too saccharinely sweet to be hailed a masterpiece, despite the supporting cast all uniformly knocking it out of the park too, but Emilia Jones’ performance here is so good that it makes this film essential. Watch. This. Space.