The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Wednesday, February 3, 2021 — 5
‘CODA’ is a remarkable take
on the coming-of-age story
The 2021 Sundance Film
Festival
kicked
off
with
“CODA,” written and directed
by Sian Heder (“Tallulah”).
Based on the 2014 French film
“La Famille Bélier,” “CODA”
follows Ruby Rossi (Emilia
Jones, “Locke and Key”), a
17-year-old CODA (child of
deaf adults). When she joins
her school’s choir, she is torn
between
helping
out
with
her
family’s
business
and
embracing her love for music.
Although at times predictable,
“CODA” provides a comedic,
heartwarming
and
fresh
perspective on the traditional
coming-of-age
story
with
some
truly
astonishing
performances.
As the only hearing member
of her family, she works with
her
fishermen
father
and
brother, played by Troy Kotsur
and Daniel Durant in their
film debuts. Completing the
family is her mother, played
by the brilliant Marlee Matlin
(“Children of a Lesser God”).
The four of them have such
remarkable chemistry; whether
the family is silently working
out at sea or arguing at the
dinner
table,
the
audience
is fully immersed in their
dynamic.
The
strength
of
“CODA”
truly lies in the performances
and
relationships
of
these
four actors. Because Ruby can
hear, she acts as her family’s
interpreter in their work life.
She doesn’t plan on leaving
home and going to college until
her choir teacher (Eugenio
Derbez, “The Book of Life”)
encourages her to audition for
the Berklee College of Music.
Ruby’s passion and talent
are beautifully struck against
the pressure that she feels
to stay and help her family.
Heder creates a vivid life for
these
characters,
flawlessly
demonstrating the role that
Ruby has played in her family
since she was a child. But
the members of her family,
particularly her parents, are
given the same depth and
compassion.
They
too
are
conflicted, bearing the same
worries that any parent has
about their child growing up
and leaving for college.
This conflict is beautifully
expressed in what are arguably
two of the best scenes in the
film. At Ruby’s choir concert,
her family sits in the audience,
excited to see her perform. But
they also watch as the people
around them clap along to the
beat of the songs or are moved
to tears by the performances.
The sound cuts out (the
only time it does in the film),
showing the separation that
exists between the two things
that
are
most
important
in
Ruby’s
life.
After
the
concert, as Ruby and her
dad
sit
outside
together,
he asks her to sing her solo
for him. He rests his hands
on her throat as she sings,
feeling the vibrations of her
vocal cords. This moment is
intimate and beautiful, and it
perfectly encapsulates all the
conflicting emotions that the
characters face throughout
the film.
“CODA”
is
a
brilliant
addition to the coming-of-
age genre. While there may
be many films about the
anxieties of a high school
senior about to leave home,
there are none quite like this.
Despite
its
formulaic
qualities, “CODA” is moving
and distinctive, packing an
emotional punch by using a
somewhat overused plot to
tell a unique story, one that
has historically been rare to
find in the film industry.
But, perhaps this won’t be
the case for much longer. The
cast and crew of “CODA” are
calling for more collaboration
between the deaf community
and Hollywood. While it’s
been a long time coming,
hopefully, “CODA” is just
the
beginning
of
a
new
wave
of
representation.
JUDITH LAWRENCE
Daily Arts Writer
The final day is just like any other in ‘How It Ends’
The final day is just like any other in ‘How It Ends’
I definitely wouldn’t survive
an apocalypse. I’m blind without
contacts, would probably be
ambushed while flossing and
have no real discernible survival
skills. Luckily, a long, drawn-out
apocalypse is not how it ends for
Liza (Zoe Lister-Jones, “Band-
Aid”). Instead, Liza’s final day
on Earth begins with someone
stealing her car and forcing her
on an oddly casual walk through
the city of Los Angeles to make
her way to a party; the looming
presence of mortality is a meteor
casting only a small shadow over
the entire day.
Directed and written by
Lister-Jones and Daryl Wein
(“White Rabbit”), “How It Ends”
follows Liza and a younger
version of herself (Cailee Spaeny,
“The Craft”) as they traipse
across LA, righting wrongs,
embracing flaws and yelling at
Liza’s awful hipster ex Larry
(Lamorne Morris,“New Girl”).
Spaeny’s
younger
Liza
is
quickly
brushed
off
as
metaphysical
—
generally
unseen by the world, she’s a
voice of nostalgia and innocence
throughout
the
film.
Their
relationship eventually comes to
a head in a teary confrontation,
forcing the audience to consider
the difference between a healthy
connection with your younger
self and never letting go of the
past.
Following
the
premiere,
Lister-Jones
and
Wein
sat
down with members of the cast
to answer questions about the
film. The one on everyone’s
mind: How in the world do you
make a film during the middle
of a pandemic? The directors
talked about working through
the beginning of the pandemic
through film, a kind of therapy
for the two of them (of course,
not in place of actual therapy,
another joke cracked by Wein).
They noted that shooting
occurred mostly during the
spring and summer of 2020 and
it’s obvious; Lister-Jones and
Wein created an apocalypse
film that carries the peaceful
atmosphere of pandemic bread-
making and a time before the
BA test kitchen fell to pieces.
Given the timing of filming, that
also meant that the actors stood
several feet apart during many
of the shots and everything
was
filmed
outside.
Safety
precautions
lent
themselves,
surprisingly, to beautiful wide
shots of the streets of LA.
It’s not just the visual aspects
of the film that were affected by
pandemic precautions. “How
It Ends” consists of a series of
cameos within scenes made up
of Lister-Jones, Spaeny and one
to two other people, some who
weren’t even in the room.
Finn Wolfhard (“It”) makes
an appearance over Facetime,
and Sharon Van Etten performs
a haunting original song that
highlights the tension between
young Liza’s naive sense of
ambition
and
older
Liza’s
hesitations
about
singing
with a stranger. Nick Kroll
(“Big
Mouth”)
is
the
first
person to acknowledge Liza’s
metaphysical
younger
self:
Until this final day on Earth,
younger Liza was invisible to
the world.
The meeting between the
three
characters
begins
to
establish
the
metaphysical
Liza in the “real” world, while
simultaneously instilling the
fear of dying alone into both the
characters and the audience.
This
setup
of
encounter
after
encounter,
borne
out
of necessity, is still able to
provide the kind of narrative
satisfaction we find in classic
ensemble films like “Valentine’s
Day” or “Love Actually.”
And while these cameos
push the story along, it’s the
relationship between Liza and
her younger self that makes
the film such a relatable piece,
despite the fact that none of us
are making our way to a party
anytime soon.
The pandemic has forced
many of us back into childhoods
we thought we left behind
once entering college; who
would have thought I would
be spending my senior year
typing up a Sundance review,
not in the comfort of my dorm,
frantically trying to finish
before a night out, but casually
in my room with my parents
next
door?
My
transition
wasn’t even that jarring — I
had the habit of returning
home most weekends, to see
my dog, to use the kitchen,
normal things.
But when school closed and
relaxing
jaunts
home
were
required extended stays, a lot of
us started walking around with
a shadow of our younger selves,
analyzing
past
encounters,
revisiting old friends, though
without the impending doom of
a meteor. Just a virus.
EMMA CHANG
Daily Arts Writer
SUNDANCE 2021
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
‘Cryptozoo’ is Wes
Anderson meets LSD
In a U.S. base on Okinawa,
just after World War II, a little
girl dreams of the atom bomb.
A creature called the Baku
comes to eat her nightmares.
This girl, named Lauren
and played by Lake Bell (“In a
World”), grows up to become a
Cryptid rescuer, saving beings
like the Baku from those who
seek to imprison or exploit
them. She takes the creatures
to the Cryptozoo, just outside
San Francisco.
Written and directed by
Dash Shaw (“My Entire High
School
Sinking
Into
the
Sea”),
“Cryptozoo”
debuted
as part of Sundance’s “Next”
series, which they describe as
“original visions and genre-
defying work.” A kaleidoscopic
vision that’s completely hand-
drawn, “Cryptozoo” is more
than just original — it’s a
singular, electrifying vision.
During the Q&A session
following
the
film,
Shaw
cited a quote from Picasso as
inspiration: “Everything you
can imagine is real.” Under
the supervision of Animation
Director
Jane
Samborski
(“Hitiro
The
Peasant”),
“Cryptozoo”
fulfills
this
promise, making incredible use
of its animated composition to
bring its fantastical narrative
to chimeric life.
Each
frame,
literally
a
painting, bursts with color,
texture
and
secrets.
The
visuals
also
transform
to
suit the story’s mood, going
anywhere from the photo-
realistic
to
the
insanely
abstract, conveying emotion
so
powerful
it
becomes
overwhelming.
Inspired by the aesthetic
and perspective of late 1960s
radical
art,
the
movie’s
no-holds-barred
approach
to sex and violence is also
startlingly unique in American
animation, giving the story a
lingering weight that’s hard to
shake. It’s a beautiful acid trip
combined with a nightmare,
then
illustrated
by
Blake,
Bosch and Basquiat.
The film is set in 1967
when Lauren is on a race to
find the Baku before the U.S.
government captures it. The
Feds seek to use its dream-
eating powers to consume
those of the counterculture,
snuffing out the hippies and
protesters for good. Traveling
with a Gorgon (one of the
snake-haired beasts of Greek
mythology)
named
Phoebe,
who Shaw described as a
“human-passing”
Cryptid,
Lauren’s quest takes her from
snowy Russian peaks to a
small Kentucky town. Led by
Bell, the cast, which includes
Michael
Cera
(“Arrested
Development”)
and
Grace
Zabriskie (“Twin Peaks: The
Return”), sells the wonder
and agony of a world where
Cryptids walk among us.
“Cryptozoo”
combines
the
speculative
wit
of
Kurt
Vonnegut,
the
visual
surrealism of David Lynch
and the aloof humor of Wes
Anderson, with a helping of
“Jurassic Park.” It’s more than
this
clumsy
approximation,
though. “Cryptozoo” isn’t just
strange for strangeness’s sake
— there’s a reason behind its
madness, a bedrock of meaning
beneath
its
shimmering
psychedelic veneer.
“Cryptozoo” is about being
strange in America. Be it
different
races,
sexualities,
gender identities or species,
this country has not been kind
to those who aren’t WASPs. The
movie references imperialism,
marriage and Disney World
but, however, it’s manifested,
the
Cryptids
are
violently
oppressed
by
an
imposed
normality,
which
seeks
to
snuff out their colorful lives.
They’re assaulted, demeaned,
boxed in or given a price tag by
every human they meet. It’s no
wonder they want to escape.
In
2021,
when
American
institutions have wrought more
havoc than they have in decades,
the
box
office
charts
are
dominated by carbon-copies and
humans
continue
destroying
the environment, “Cyptozoo’s”
anthemic strangeness couldn’t
have come at a better time.
ANDREW WARRICK
Daily Arts Writer
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
SUNDANCE 2021
SUNDANCE 2021
Courtesy of Sundance Institute