CODA is the newest film for Apple TV+. Apple acquired it straight out of the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, where it won a variety of different awards and plenty of critical acclaim. It’s one of the more interesting film releases for the streaming platform to date. Which is why it’s a little frustrating to see it arrive on the streaming service without much fanfare at all.
But the film officially premiered today, August 13, 2021. (Or late on Thursday night, depending on where you live.) And now that the film is out there and people can actually watch it (as long as you’re an Apple TV+ subscriber), Apple’s sharing some promotional material beyond the official trailer on its YouTube channel. The company is taking a somewhat unique approach to the whole thing, which may count for something. Instead of just showing some footage of the film and splashing some critic reviews on top, Apple is showcasing the reactions from real-life CODAs, or child of deaf adults.
This sort of marketing material isn’t completely unheard of for horror movies. You’ve probably seen plenty of “audience reaction” blitzes in the past. But CODA is absolutely not a horror movie, just to be clear. It’s a family drama, and a fantastic one at that. The film stars Emilia Jones (Locke & Key), Ferdia Walsh-Peelo (Vikings), Troy Kotsur (The Number 23), Eugenio Derbez (The Casagrandes), Daniel Durant (Switched at Birth), Amy Forsyth (Beautiful Boy), and Kevin Chapman (City on a Hill). It was written and directed by Siân Heder (Little America). You can check out all the reactions from real-life CODAs below.
The promo material lasts just over two minutes in length. And if you care about any kind of spoilers, it might be worth watching later after you’ve checked out the full film. It’s not necessarily going to go out of its way to ruin the story for you, but it does show new footage, albeit with some real world and real-life context from the reactions, so be aware of that. It’s absolutely worth watching, though. Seeing these types of reactions, and seeing how a film like this can have such an impact, is great.
Here’s the official description of the film:
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.
And here’s the official trailer:
You can check out CODA right now on Apple TV+. If you’ve already watched it, what’d you think?