what's going on everybody and welcome back to my channel movie files elliott back again
with a brand new movie review and today we're discussing the film that had a lot of buzz at
a sundance earlier this year and that is a new drama by the name of koda which i recently got
a chance to check out and i'm so excited to let you all know what i thought about the film and
let you know if it's worth checking out either on apple tv plus or in theaters on august 13th
all in this spoiler-free review before we break it all down do me a favor and make sure you're
checking me out on all my other social media accounts if you're new to the channel welcome to
the community consider subscribing to the channel and while you all are at it make sure you hit that
notification bell that way you can get the alert when i drop new content if you all enjoyed this
spoiler-free review or make sure to like and share this video it helps out the channel a lot but i
also appreciate the support and in the comments whether you saw it at sundance whether you saw
it on apple tv plus or in theaters let's discuss this film your pros your cons were you invested
in the characters were you emotionally invested in the story did you have a good laugh a good cry
or were you disappointed do you not see the hype were you not emotionally invested in this film
let's discuss it all in the comments below so again i have mentioned it i heard a lot of good
things about this film at sundance some people were suggesting that this could be that kind of
sundance darling that goes from the sundance film festival all the way to the oscars so
with that in mind and also i've been saying it for years now but i'm a big fan of apple tv plus they
don't have the quantity of a netflix or amazon but they have the quality so did it stick to landing
is it worth checking out starting off with my positives i got to say first and foremost i was so
invested in this story i was so invested in these characters and i got so this this film has so much
heart and it has so much emotional payoff when you get to the third act of the film and i'm not gonna
lie i have no uh problems submitting my emotional connections to film i got pretty emotional i cried
i want to say let me let me recall my my cry meter i think i want to say i cried at least
four times and most of those cries came in the third act of this film which was just like the
emotional peak of this film but let's talk a little bit about this film first and foremost
it is a it is based upon a film that came out i believe it was a french film that came out in 2014
it had a little bit of controversy behind it it was more of a comedy drama and some people feel
like the comedy came from the depth characters and also the controversy was the deaf characters were
the mom and dad frank in this case they go by the name of frank and uh jackie but in that film those
actors were not deaf so a lot of people felt like why not bring in deaf actors well in this case
every one of the characters who are deaf and again just kind of going over the synopsis the basic
premise is you have a family of four frank jackie their older son leo and their youngest daughter
ruby ruby's 17 years old and she's in high school but ruby is the only member of her family who's
not deaf so it leaves it on ruby's shoulders to kind of be there for her family whether they're
out on the boat with their fishing company whether they're selling their fish and she's 17 she's
in high school she's a great singer she has a dream to go off to be a singer and maybe going
to college and seeing what the outside world looks like so there's a little bit of conflict going on
in this film so with all that being said man one of the things i took away from this film is the
family the family unit was so believable you they were a regular family they had their highs their
lows they fought the mom and dad did some mom and dad things that some of us would never want to see
ever uh but i i really was investing their story individually speaking we have frank played by troy
kotzer who brought the emotional resonance to the character had one of the most emotional moments
towards the end of the film he brought some of the good laughs in this film he was just such a
great character a family man who was there for his family who really wanted to keep the family
together but he sees that his daughter has a lot of potential and could go off and do some
things in her life as well as the mother jackie played by marlene matlin who i've never seen any
of her films but doing some research she is an academy award winner and i can see why because
she was so great in this film she was there for her daughter but again that's her baby she doesn't
want her daughter to go out there in the outside world and i just love the the family unit there
leo was a really good addition to the cast but the star of this movie is play you know ruby the
17 year old played by amelia jones who i've seen her only once in a netflix show earlier this year
lock and key i thought she was great in this in that show but she was fantastic in this movie
she carried the film in regards to bringing the emotional beats she really had a good job
you know singing in this film i was really impressed by her vocal uh abilities in this
movie but more in particular about ruby again just looking at the character breakdown here
again she loves her family she's been there since she was a kid the only one in the family
that can hear and and be that interpreter for a family but that's a lot of pressure and you see
that struggle throughout the film she loves her family she wants to support her family at the
same time she wants to be able to hang out with friends she wants to be able to go out and maybe
see what this singing ability can do and what can she can do in her life which actually brings me to
another great character in this film a supporting role played by ergenio derbez who is the musical
choir teacher and he brought a really good laughs to the film and had a really good funny joke when
he meets the parents for the first time but seeing their back and forth and seeing that character
represent us as the audience saying hey ruby it's okay to let go it's okay to explore different
things in life and seeing if you could maybe do something with your singing career so i love his
addition as well as just again the heart and soul of this film is it just comes to the story of and
we've all probably come across these crossroads whether it be with family or friends you get to
a certain point in your life where again you love your loved ones you love your close friends but
you have to go out and and see what the world has to offer you you still can be supportive but you
might have to be supportive at a distance so i love that narrative that the film had to offer
whether it be again the emotional beats which i felt were just so well earned there's some good
laughs in this film again it's just so refreshing to come around this film that doesn't have all the
the nonsense and and the acting was strong the direction was really good the writing was really
good i was just really invested in the story and this is a good thing to come across these type of
stories but it doesn't come without his flaws i do have some criticisms with the film i mentioned
that this film has a a bit of a singing element to it right and not to be that guy but i just
just a couple days ago i saw the aretha franklin film respect and i felt like our main character
ruby was a really good singer but everyone else whenever they went to those singing beats i'm just
not personally a fan of like when they take older songs and make into pop songs that's not my cup of
tea but that's just a small gripe but i will say when it comes to criticism there is a love story
involving ruby and character by the name of miles who's in her high school which by the way miles i
didn't even realize it so i was halfway through the film that is the same actor that played in
one of my favorite musicals in the last decade by sing street but that relationship between ruby and
miles i didn't really feel that connection it wasn't necessarily the chemistry i just
didn't feel like it was earned and just didn't it wasn't as fleshed out as the other elements
of the film like ruby and her her best friend ruby and her family so that that love story was
one of the more weaker elements of the film and i feel like the payoff really didn't uh earn
its you know when we get to a certain point in the film i just didn't feel that their connection but
outside of the you know the the musical pieces and and not all the singers being that great and that
uh that uh connection between those two characters ruby and miles those are my really my only
criticisms that kind of come to mind and i will say the film does have its predictable moments
but i'm okay with predictability if you give me those emotional moments that are earned towards
the third act of this film so with all that being said before i give you all my overall thoughts
on my score if you haven't already make sure to like share comment your thoughts in the comment
section subscribe to the channel if you haven't already hit the bell that way you don't miss any
other content overall coda is a must-see film of this year it's a film filled with heart it's a
film filled with earned emotions it has incredible performances it will make you cry it will make you
laugh i was thoroughly entertained and i can see where all the hype comes from with all that being
said i'm going to give koda a four out of five now i personally i don't know if it has like best
picture type of buzz going to it i i found the film to be great at what it was i didn't find him
to be exceptional at everything and i don't see it getting those nominations that a lot of people
are considering but i can see some supporting roles for the mother uh as far as that goes but
neither here nor there awards no awards four out of five i recommend you all check it out again
if you have apple tv plus again apple tv plus is only five dollars ladies and gentlemen it's a lot
of great quality stuff on there and this is one of them so i recommend you all check it out either on
apple tv plus or if you get the chance to see it in theaters which i believe all theaters are gonna
be playing it with captions definitely go check it out you won't be disappointed and when you all
see it let me know what you all thought of it your pros your your cons were you emotionally invested
did you have a good cries you have a good laugh or were you disappointed let's discuss it all in the
comments again if you all have stuck around to this point in the video thank you so much again
just a friendly reminder to like share comment subscribe to the channel if you haven't already
thank you all for watching this review hope you're staying safe and we'll see you on the next video