CODA - A Disney Channel Original Best Picture Winner

PATREON MOVIE DISCUSSION: 

This movie was selected by our Patreon Supporters over at the Cinematic Doctrine Patreon. Support as little as $3 a month and have your voice heard! 

CODA beat Don't Look Up for Best Picture, and for many people that's all that matters. But, in reality, when compared to so many other films that released in 2021, is CODA truly the Best Picture? That's the question Melvin's been wrestling with while watching CODA, and both he and Daniel discuss the films successes, failures, frustrations, and celebrations. Maybe the Best Picture was the podcast discussion we had along the way. 

Topics:

• Discussing strange technicalities of the Academy.
• Award notwithstanding, is CODA actually the Best Picture of 2021?
• Episode title notwithstanding, CODA really is like a Disney Channel Original movie, and only a step above what makes that narrative structure interesting. Thus, it feels like CODA will always live under the shadow of what makes a movie a Best Picture winner... despite also being a Best Picture winner.
• The last 30-or-so minutes of the film pull out a series of emotional touchpoints that likely left audiences feeling very satisfied about the movie despite whatever else happened during the nearly 2-hour runtime.
• Melvin, "It's just really... just okay."
• Despite being a super cartoony character, Eugenio Derbez's character contributes a lot to the narrative drama.
• Daniel on CODA, "It's like seeing a really talented chef create fast food."
• There's a trope about deaf people not understanding music, but this is largely a fallacy.
• CODA carries a lot of dramatic tension but, for some reason, Melvin didn't really carry a lot of that tension. He felt the drama was okay at times, but largely impotent.
• There's a real lack of interpreters in Massachusetts which seems unrealistic considering some of the private sector and government sector agencies the Rossi family interacts with.
• Where the film succeeds is in causing us to root for the family.
• An aside talking about Apple TV.
• Daniel talks about what it's like to watch a movie on his phone.
• Melvin and Daniel both recommend CODA for the most part, including the fact that its momentary sexuality isn't really all that abrasive, and really more wholesome and endearing.
• Daniel, "I think the strength of the movie lies in how widely accessible it is."

Recommendations:

• ESV Lutheran Study Bible, Hardcover (Concordia Publishing House)
• Everything Everywhere All at Once (Movie) (Currently in Theaters)
• Moon Knight by Lemire & Smallwood: The Complete Collection (Graphic Novel)