Way back in the dark recesses of this bitter and difficult winter, a rare thing happened at the digital edition of the Sundance Film Festival: A film basically clean-swept all of the major awards categories that it was up for. Depending on how you felt about it, that meant it was either a resounding affirmation of its joyous, crowd-pleasing qualities, or it was an indictment of the boring tastes of this particular festival jury. Soon enough, however, you’ll have the chance to make up your mind about whether or not Siân Heder’s CODA — a film about the hearing-abled child of deaf adults coming to terms with the conflict between her dreams of being a singer and her obligations to her family — and, on Thursday, Apple dropped your very first glimpse at it.
Peep it:
Here’s a synopsis, though, you know, you could always read our review from Sundance 2021 if you’re feeling really generous:
“Seventeen-year-old Ruby (Emilia Jones) is the sole hearing member of a deaf family — a ‘CODA,’ child of deaf adults. Her life revolves around acting as interpreter for her parents (Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur) and working on the family’s struggling fishing boat every day before school with her father and older brother (Daniel Durant). But when Ruby joins her high school’s choir club, she discovers a gift for singing and soon finds herself drawn to her duet partner Miles (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo). Encouraged by her enthusiastic, tough-love choirmaster (Eugenio Derbez) to apply to a prestigious music school, Ruby finds herself torn between the obligations she feels to her family and the pursuit of her own dreams.”
CODA arrives in theaters and on Apple TV+ on August 13, which, coincidentally, is when AirTags will probably be back in stock again. Hey, if you don’t want us to bring up the scary consequences of backward vertical integration when discussing your film releases, maybe make it a little less obvious that you’re selling the platform so that people buy your devices!