Coda

and layers of Joni Mitchell

The most touching moments in the movie CODA (a remake of a French-Belgian film, released by Sundance in 2021, and the recent winner of Best Picture (as well as Best Supporting Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay), is when the hearing young woman of an otherwise deaf family, with whom she shares a tight bond, is struggling with her audition to the Berklee College of Music- of course, her decision to show for the audition is last minute, she is late, has forgotten her sheet music and is otherwise overwhelmed- her teacher, an alum, bursts through the auditorium door and offers to accompany her, a request to which the three judges grudgingly acquiesce- and he stops abruptly after the first couple of bars as her performance is hesitant and lackluster, and pretends he has erred, so she starts again, and notices that her family has snuck into the upper balcony to watch, and this ignites her fully; not only does she channel her Joni Mitchell, but, as she takes flight, she locks onto them and signs the song. The judges realize something is a little atypical, and turn around to see them. This is not a spoiler as the description does not aptly convey the moment or the bona fide of this viscerally moving layered scene.

Then there is the Joni Mitchell piece itself- Both Sides Now- and how the content can be reverberated back into the film itself, and then outward to the viewer, ultimately capturing the story, the actors, the audience, into one shared experience tethered by this piece that can resonate with everyone for personal reasons and as relates to the film.

This film is an experience in togethering, and it needed mention here; CODA is more than the sum of its parts- truth and both sides and the inscrutable assemblage of it all echo long after the sound grows silent.