Author丨DAVID FEAR
Originally published in Rolling Stones
When someone says "It's a Sundance movie," you probably know what they mean: Low-budget or even scribbled film -- but Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival in Utah Become a goldmine for finding popular alternatives to big-budget movies. You don't need to be at the Sundance Film Festival to see a Sundance film - if you find yourself caught up in Eighth Grade, Earthshaking, Minari or Half Nelson (these four are in Touched by Sundance after its premiere to a wide audience and to critical acclaim), trust me: you know what a Sundance movie means.
There is, however, a less-than-friendly version of the definition of a "Sundance movie": Sundance movies are old-fashioned and uninspired—heavy, often with an artistic treatment of sitcoms and problem-driven dramas, that honor audiences stories that we are all too familiar with, with some expressive idiosyncrasies in the narrative. These films are often just catering to the audience, and are too superficial in the setting and handling of laughs, making them lighthearted. Sundance's award-winning films, such as Little Miss Sunshine, Earl and Me and the Dying Girl , and countless others like them, often have lucrative distribution deals. "Omg, this movie is so Sundance." -- that's not necessarily a compliment in this case.
In "Hearing Girl" CODA, director Sian Heder tells the story of a young woman struggling between pursuing her dreams and supporting her deaf family. "Science Films": On the one hand, this drama reminds you that studios are no longer just focused on making such bland, character-based films. On the other hand, it also provides a comfortable textbook example of independent film. "Listening Girl" premiered at the online Sundance Film Festival last January, won two heavyweight awards, the Jury Prize and the Audience Award, and was bought by Apple for a record $25 million in distribution rights (August 13, APPLE TV+ starts broadcasting). The film fuses together several typical, alternative narratives, five films hidden in one film.
CODA—short for Hearing Children of Deaf-Mute Families—is adapted from the 2014 French film The Belliers, revolving around the protagonist Ruby Rossi. Interestingly, the audience heard her voice without seeing her: we heard her voice before Ruby left the factory: a cover version of Etta James' "Something's Got a Hold on Me" was playing on a boat ". Like many other residents of Gloucester, Massachusetts, Ruby's family fishes for a living. Dad (Troy Kotsur) is the captain, brother Leo (Daniel Durant) works with him, and mom (Marlee Matlin) does the accounting. , Ruby helps - she's the only hearing girl in the deaf family. Ruby has a talent for singing, but this talent seems destined to be despised and idle.
But when the cute boy in the King Crimson T-shirt signed up for the choir on the first day of school, so did his crush Ruby. When Ruby stood in front of the school's music teacher, Mr. Vera Robles, she found herself unable to sing in front of her classmates, unable to sing a single word. The music teacher is played by a Mexican amphibious superstar, Eugenio Derbez, who makes the supporting role charismatic. When the music teacher first appeared in the movie, he strode into the choir rehearsal room and announced, "They made my latte with some kind of nut milk today, so I'm in high spirits now!" When the music When Mr. Vera Roberts, the teacher, finally got Ruby to sing through vocal practice and other methods, he discovered Ruby's amazing talent and hoped that the young girl could practice well and participate in an interview at the Berklee College of Music at the end of the year. However, Ruby knew that her family could not do without her help. Thus, the psychological tug of war began.
What we see in the film is a family survival story, a modern take on the David and Cotillard story, with a representative example we rarely see on the big screen: Ruby A family is battling the big fishing grounds that are squeezing them - big fishing grounds that want to issue quotas and set strict standards, and don't plan to give self-employed people like Ruby a fair purchase price. The Ruby family is also the kind of down-to-earth family we've grown accustomed to on TV and in movies: Dad is rude, humorous, and a little "wavey"; Mom is trying to make sure they can make ends meet; brother is fighting in the bar the last second. , and the next second got together with the waitress. There is some kind of rivalry between their siblings, but the whole family is united. Ruby's family doesn't understand why Ruby loves to sing and makes it her dream. Although three of the four family members are deaf, they are a family, with love, embarrassment, and arguments, just like ours—an interaction we often see in family movies. The difference is that this interaction in "Listening Girl" also includes sign language communication that is either angry or funny.
It's in these family scenes that the vividness of "The Hearing Girl" shines—the movie characters are played by good deaf actors. Low-key veteran actor Cotzel gives the film's blue-collar father an uninhibited quality that keeps him from being a dictator, and Durant, who plays the older brother, adds some shadow to the heavy-handed family member he's eager to Prove that even as the eldest son and deaf, you can take care of the family business. And Marlee Matlin, who plays Mom, is so brilliant, all I can say is that I really miss seeing her on the screen. Marlee has proven she can take on any acting challenge by taking on the role. Jones, who plays the heroine, has a lot of acting responsibilities. She is an adolescent girl, a person caught between two worlds, and a good singer. Jones handled it all deftly and did a great job.
For all its strengths, "Hearing Girl" has one serious problem. The problem isn't that it's a bare-bones feel good movie that squeezes your laughs and tears to the bone. The biggest problem with "Hearing Girl" is that its hybridity makes our movie viewing experience feel like seeing several movies vying for space, and the finished product that finally piles up appears to be more than rich and insufficient. The soundtrack of this film is excellent, and the interlude that echoes the theme is chosen in a unique way, which is warm and moving. But, as the movie progresses into its second half, we feel more exhausted than cheered when we see what could be the sixth or seventh ending. "Hearing Girl" does an exceptionally good job of handling the conventional-to-a-fault indie feel, but you're likely to get a sense that the "Sundance film concentration" is too high.
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