The Oscars finally arrived over the weekend, and it is fair to say that they slapped. Dune took home the most awards, but the bigger awards went to a variety of films. They were scattered among Power of the Dog, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, King Richard, and Coda. For the most part, I feel like the right people were rewarded for their performances, but some of my favorite films of the year were not recognized in any of the categories, and I feel like they were snubbed. Saturday, I finally was able to go see Coda, because it had been hiding on Apple Tv+ instead of going to the theaters. It was the last film that I needed to see to round out all ten of the best picture nominees, and according to the academy, I saved the best for last.
Coda is the story of a deaf family, but they have a daughter in high school, Ruby, that can hear. She plays an integral role in the family. She is the translator for them, so that they can connect to the larger world. Her family makes a living by fishing, Ruby, her dad, Frank, and her brother, Leo, get up early in the morning to take their boat out to sea to reel in the catch of the day. Then it is Ruby’s job to help barter the price of the catch with the dock. The dock has been repeatedly screwing over the fishermen, and it is starting to reach a boiling point. All this is happening while Ruby is finding her voice in a different way, singing. Ruby follows the boy she likes, Miles, into choir. Ruby loves singing, and her teacher, Bernardo Villalobos, thinks that Ruby has some serious talent, and he starts to invest in her. Ruby gets an audition at Berkley, but her family needs her as a translator, as they start to open a new warehouse for their fishing business. So Ruby is being torn between two worlds, a family who needs her, and a dream that is attainable and can change her life.
This movie was a coming-of-age story that was emotionally powerful and moving. The Rossi family was clearly very tight knit. They looked out for each other, and they sacrificed for each other. Then Ruby found something that she was really good at, that her family could not quite fully understand. This also came at the worst time, her family felt like they needed her to be successful, so there was a ton of added pressure on Ruby to be there, and when she was not, her family paid for it dearly, their family boat was boarded by the coast guard because Frank and Leo could not hear the radio going off, and they could not answer the inspector’s questions. Ruby’s actions were hurting the family, but it also was not fair for Ruby’s family to place such heavy expectations upon her shoulders. In the end, they work it out, and there is an emotional climax, that is likely to leave tears in your eyes, when you see and feel the power of family and love being displayed on the screen.
Then for me the emotion got amplified even more because when I was leaving the theater, I saw people signing to each other during the credits. In education classes, they always talk about the importance of the students in your class feeling seen and represented in the materials in your class. It could be in the form of books or posters on the wall, but students will be more likely to be engaged if they see themselves. Movies are the same way. If there is a story one can feel like their story is being reflected, it will make people more likely to go and see it. Overall, it is not a very often occurrence where a movie is centered on deaf people, but over the course of the last two years, there have been two Oscar contending movies that have deaf people highly featured, Coda, this year, and The Sound of Metal last year, which I thought could have won best picture over Nomadland. So it was an awesome moment to see deaf people in the theater hopefully enjoying a movie that represents them and the struggles they may face and telling a part of their story for all to see.
Then the story of the deaf community got amplified even more with their Oscar wins last night, not only did they win best picture, but they also won best supporting actor for Tony Kotsur’s performance as Frank, and they won for best adapted screenplay. When Tony Kotsur went up to accept his award, he gave his speech in sign language, and when the others gave their speeches, there was a person that went up there with them and translated the speech to sign language. Coda was excellent and one of the best films of the year, so it was great to see it receive the accolades that it deserved.
Personally, the film I thought that was the best of the year was The Green Knight. It was the only film that was good enough that I went back twice to see it in theaters. It was one of the most visually stunning movies of the year, and not in the way that Dune was. The landscapes in The Green Knight were vast and real, but even when they went into more CGIed scenes, it still stunned me with its beauty and bursts of color. Also it took a story that is hundreds of years old, and adapted it, and it made it into something beautiful and new. I was incredibly surprised to see that it was not nominated for anything. It was on many people’s lists for one of the best movies of the year, no one else seemed to have it at the top like me, which is fine, but I still feel like it deserved a nomination for something! I also feel like The French Dispatch could have been up for production design or costumes. Wes Anderson is so meticulous with the ways in which he orchestrates his films, that it was surprising that it also got no nominations. Finally, it was also shocking that Jimmy Chin’s The Rescue did not receive a nomination for best documentary. After winning for Free Solo, it seemed like he would have cemented himself in this category, and he made another stunning film, and somehow it did not get nominated. A wild decision.
It was also good to see Will Smith win for best actor; he was one of my favorite actors growing up. Sadly, all the awards from last night have become overshadowed by the slap incident, where Chris Rock made a joke about Will Smith’s wife, and Will went up on stage and slapped Chris Rock, and then he proceeded to yell at him from his seat. It was weird and has raised a mixed reaction. It probably was not the best way to react to the situation, but it was entertaining, and it was made all the more entertaining that he had to go up and give an acceptance speech after the incident where he talks about the importance of protecting family, and he won an award for playing a father, who went above and beyond to protect his family. It was sad that all of the conversations the day after the Oscars was about Will, instead of being about an awesome movie about an overlooked community.
Overall, it was a good Oscars, and it was great to see a film like Coda thrive, not only was the story heartwarming, but it was also funny, and the comedy must be well written, if the subtitles are making you laugh. It was also funny that Netflix has been trying so hard to win a best picture award, but they continue to fail, and Apple TV+ walks on to the stage and wins after just being around for a couple of years. They also had another nominee of Denzel Washington in The Tragedy of MacBeth, but the viewings of these movies were extremely limited. Their theatrical release was incredibly small, and these are not films that can be rented. So either you have the Apple streaming service, or you cannot see it, or you get lucky like I did, and theaters do some limited showings because Coda is up for best picture. If you have the ability to go see Coda, I highly recommend it!
Other Movies This Week:
8 Mile: Lil Rabbit is an underground rapper from the slums of Detroit who wants to make it big.
Kickass: A dark comedic story about a highschooler trying to become a superhero.
The Lost City: Watching Sandra Bullock being chased through the jungle in a purple sequence jump suit with Channing Tatum as her side kick, and Daniel Radcliff as the villain is oddly entertaining.
Windfall: A robbery gone wrong, ends with a slightly predicable twist, but it does have a good cast.
Flee: An Afghani refugee flees to Russia, and then he leaves to go to Denmark, all while trying to survive, hide, and deal with his sexuality.
Cloverfield: If Blair Witch Project and Godzilla had a baby, it would look like this movie.
New Rankings:
Coda: 4 Stars
8 Mile: 4 Stars
Kickass: 3.5 Stars
The Lost City: 3 Stars
Windfall: 3 Stars
Flee: 3 Stars
Cloverfield: 3 Stars
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