The only thing I remember about ‘The Blier Family’ is that it didn’t leave me with a great memory like the one that ‘CODA: The Sounds of Silence’ has left me, I deduce, from the facts, one of those cases in which the remake exceeds to its original. Even to the point of justifying the existence not of itself, but also of an original that has not fallen into oblivion thanks to its presumed “copy”. The world upside down. Like the French one on which it is inspired, ‘CODA’ (whose Spanish subtitle I am going to save from now on) is a film that is easy to despise and undervalue. Either because of the cover or some first bars that do not promise anything that could not be broadcast a weekend after lunch. But that appearance that can work against him can also work in his favor, because ‘CODA’ is one of those films that we can consider a “little miracle”: The one of those films that work so well that they leave us speechless, and without wanting to look for the tickles. That if it were to look for them, we would find them. Missing more. But it is completely unnecessary and to some extent, contradictory. Like when someone tells you that a comedy they consider very bad makes them laugh a lot. So why is it so bad if it serves its purpose? The case of ‘CODA’ is not the same, but it can be similar being as it is, a well-intentioned portion of comforting cinema with an affable and nourishing appearance. Which is with the pride and presence of someone who knows perfectly what he is doing, how he is doing it and when he has to do it. But above all, the one who is doing it with love: Care for the story, for its characters and for the viewer. As writer and director, Sian Heder imbues her film with a radiant, warm simplicity that is as rewarding as it is comforting. And although, what has been said, we can intuit, suppose or take for granted the existence of a formula in its origin, the filmmaker buries it under that affection with which she gives heart to a story that comes to life and becomes one of those “happy places”, magical but elusive, to which every work of the same condition aspires (or should). Accepting that everything starts from a formula, ‘CODA’ would be a humanistic exposition of a topic of numbers that, as a mathematician would say, are not arranged like this on a whim. With the invaluable complicity of Emilia Jones and Troy Kotsur, it is as if Heder turned a complex mathematical problem into a fun and emotional question that is easy to understand in any language in the world.
By Juan Pairet Iglesias
@Wanchopex