Coda - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

The film’s title refers to an acronym: Children Of Deaf Adults. Ruby (Emilia Jones) is the only member of her family who is able to hear. Her father, Frank (Troy Kotsur, who won an Oscar for his performance), her mother, Jackie (the always great Marlee Matlin), and her brother, Leo (newcomer Daniel Durant) are all deaf. Ruby feels like an outsider wherever she is. She feels like the black sheep of her family, and at school, she’s teased for having such a weird family. They’re not just all hard of hearing; they’re fishermen, so sometimes she comes to school smelling like dead fish.

Ruby loves to sing, so she decides to sign up for choir at her high school, where she meets Bernardo "Mr. V" Villalobos (Eugenio Derbez), who challenges her in ways she’s never been challenged. Shy by nature, having been ridiculed for much of her life, growing up “talking weird”, having grown up with a deaf family, she sounded deaf herself for many years. She must learn to overcome her fears, her shyness, and embrace who she is so that she can learn not only how to sing, but how to love herself.

Things aren’t as easy as all that, of course, as she must contend with her family. They’re in a tight spot, financially speaking. Ruby serves as their interpreter and, without her, they’re up a creek without a paddle. They’re not allowed to fish on the seas without someone who can hear aboard, and they can’t afford to hire someone to fill that role. Not only that, they just don’t get the whole singing thing. Why does she have to sing, anyway? Is this some form of rebellion? Her mother even asks, if she were blind instead of deaf, would Ruby then want to take up painting?

CODA is a remake of the French film La Famille Bélier, and is a very specific type of formulaic film that relies on tried-and-true tropes throughout the ages. We have this conflict, which conflicts with this other conflict, and these clashes will wind up with a lot of tears, a lot of very emotional scenes with triumphant music swelling, and by the end of it, everyone will have learned a little something. I’m usually the ideal target audience for these kinds of movies, but very little of CODA felt organic. A movie such as this will only get you as far as your investment into its characters, who felt little more than thinly sketched caricatures. This is the kind of story where the sassy, accented, tough-as-nails choir teacher (who’s really a softy) begins with a monologue that’s basically a riff on the “I don’t care if you live or die!” speech from Showgirls. But, finally, you see that his techniques get results, dammit. He’ll yell at Ruby to make animalistic, bestial sounds, first coming out as weak squeaks, then full-on roars, and she’ll explode into song like Christina Aguilera from Burlesque.

The clash that Ruby has with her family doesn’t suit the film’s formula. CODA plays out like a crowd-pleaser, but her family kind of sucks. They’re entirely dependent on her ability to hear, to the point that when she decides to go to college, it risks destroying them. If this is the conflict the plot is going to settle on, it should be grittier, more truthful about how unhealthy and dysfunctional the family’s dynamic is. It doesn’t work to have two scenes, side by side, one with Ruby screaming at her mom to please, for the love of god, let her live her own life, followed by a sweet, sentimental one where everyone gets along great, and, man, what a terrific family of folks who all love each other so much.

Do you love movies about music? Do you love sentimental tearjerkers? You might just love CODA, then. For me, it felt like so much of it was on autopilot, checking off a list of story beats, that it never fully engaged me, and that its central conflict hinted at a darkness that would have been better suited for another plot entirely.

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
CODA comes to 4K UHD-Blu-ray in a single-disc release, housed in a standard case. There’s not a lot to its packaging, and it also incorrectly lists the audio options available for viewers. The disc’s case states that it is available in DTS-HD MA 5.1, but the surround sound option is actually a Dolby Atmos mix.

CODA was shot digitally by cinematographer Paula Huidobro and is presented in 2160p resolution for this release, graded in Dolby Vision HDR. Visually speaking, there’s nothing to complain about when it comes to CODA. It’s a terrific-looking picture. For all three Academy Awards for which the film was nominated (Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor), it won. Oddly enough, the film wasn’t nominated for its cinematography, which is a shame. It looks gorgeous, and its 4K release makes the most out of its HDR grading, particularly in shots on the open sea, sparkling light on the ocean’s waves. Its Massachusetts filming location is lensed in hues of blue, while skin tones look healthy and varied, with shades of red about their noses and cheeks.

Although the disc’s case states that CODA is available in DTS-HD MA 5.1 for its surround mix, it is actually a Dolby Atmos mix. There is a 2.0 stereo option available, however, which is indeed encoded in DTS-HD MA. Both options sounded great, and since I have an Atmos-compatible setup, I tended to favor that one, even if it’s a little light on rear- and height-speaker activity. It’s mainly a front-heavy presentation, which suited the film’s dramedic tone. It’s very dialogue-heavy (or subtitle-heavy in scenes with a lot of sign language), so priority is given there. The Atmos mix isn’t the most active I’ve ever encountered; however, there are some well-placed atmospherics utilizing its object-based 3D soundscape, such as a cawing bird from above or a lapping wave from behind.

There are no special features to be found on this disc.

CODA is almost a dictionary-worthy definition of “fine”. The performances are very good, in service of a story that never fully engages with its potential. Maybe if they had someone like Mr. V yelling at them, they could have gotten more out of it. There are so many aspects of its story that are fascinating, and it has spectacular moments, but it only barely scratches the surface. The family’s dynamic is by far the most interesting thing about the movie, and it’s a shame how uninterested the movie is in it. While the film looks and sounds great, packing Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, its packaging and zero supplemental features are a bizarrely half-assed job for a movie that won three Oscars, including Best Picture. CODA is Worth a Look.