CODA

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CODA.

Ruby is a senior in high school and the only hearing member of her deaf family including her father Frank mother Jackie and older brother Leo

She works on her father’s fishing boat with her father and brother and enjoys singing as she does so

She translates for her entire family and for their business to the hearing people on the docks and when money doesn’t come in like they think it should Leo suggests selling their own fish directly

Meanwhile, Ruby spends her days at school with her best friend Gertie where some of the other kids make fun of her for smelling like fish and for having a deaf family

Ruby has a crush on Miles and so when she sees him signing up for choir, she does so as well

After school, her parents pick her up in their truck with the music blasting embarrassing Ruby

She accompanies her parents to a doctor’s appointment and has to be deeply embarrassed when having to translate the information that they have jock itch a common ailment among fishermen for being in damp clothes

As the family has dinner together Leo swipes on Tinder

Choir class begins and the teacher,Mr. Villalobos asks each student to sing a little so he can learn their vocal parts but When it’s Ruby’s turn, she becomes too nervous and emotional and runs out of the room

She goes to the water and sings by herself

but then returns home to discover her parents arguing over money having credit cards being declined and bills mounting

Frank says maybe they sell their boat

Meanwhile, at the docks all the fishermen are told that they are going to have to pay eight hundred dollars a day out of pocket for federal observers to come to make sure they are following all their regulations

deeply frustrating all the fishermen who say they can’t afford it

Back at school, Ruby goes back to Mr. Villalobos and explains when she was little

she used to get made fun of for the way she sounded because she spoke like a deaf person and she sometimes gets nervous

Later, Mr. Villalobos finally hears Ruby sing and is very impressed with her voice

He eventually chooses her to sing a duet at the fall concert and pairs her with Miles and He instructs them to practice together

At the docks Ruby finds that Leo is selling the fish for less than they are worth and yells at him about it

She runs into her father outside smoking weed

At school, Mr. Villalobos has Ruby and Miles sing their duet from him and finds they are totally out of sync they practiced separately not together

He tells them to fix it and afterward asks Ruby what her plans after graduating are

Ruby says she isn’t going to college because her family can’t afford it

He an alum of the Berklee College of Music

says they have auditions coming up and have scholarships asks her how she feels when she sings and she signs her response

He offers to tutor her to prepare her for the audition but warms her not to waste his time She accepts

When Ruby tells her mother

she doesn’t seem excited  hurting Ruby’s feelings

Jackie wonders if she was blind if Ruby would take up painting

Meanwhile, Leo has the idea to start a co-op for their sales, but Frank says it would never work, because the other fisherman thinks he’s a joke

Leo goes with the fisherman to their local bar but can’t really communicate with them

When someone spills their drink on him, he gets into a bar fight

Gertie, who works at the bar, talks to him after communicating via text and the two ends up making out in a backroom

Miles comes over to work with Ruby

Slightly uncomfortable and not knowing where to look the two sing back to back and she tells him about her parents’ illness

At school, other kids begin making fun of Ruby about her parents, and she angrily confronts Miles for telling

Miles insists he just told one person but Ruby storms off

At practice, Ruby works on her piece Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell

Mr. Villalobos encourages her to get angry, and sing from emotion

A council addresses the fisherman about the observers

Frank ends up standing up to speak which Ruby translates

He decides to use Leo’s idea he says they’re starting their own co-op and tells everyone to bring their catch to him and he will sell it for double

At home, Jackie is horrified

Leo says they can finally be part of the fishing community but Jackie says they aren’t and will never be since they can’t communicate with them

Frank points to Ruby as their way of communicating

Ruby begins working constantly on the new business

doing all the translating and keeping up her very busy practice schedule

Jackie tries to communicate with the other wives but feels left out

Mr. Villalobos gets angry with Ruby for being late and not taking the work seriously

He warns her if she is late one more time he will be done tutoring her

Miles finds Ruby and tells her he’s sorry and that he actually admired that she has a family who all love each other unlike his family

At the business, a news crew comes to interview Frank and Jackie

Ruby needs to get to practice and Jackie yells at her that she can’t go

She accuses Ruby of wanting them to fail

Ruby stays and translates for the interview then rushes to Mr. Villalobos‘s house but he doesn’t answer the door done with Ruby not being committed

At school, she goes to see him and apologize but he refuses to continue with her saying he doesn’t need a lesson in failure

Ruby tells her family about how much she loves singing and has a fight with the family about being their interpreter and how exhausted she is

Later, Jackie and Frank argue about Ruby going to college, with Jackie not wanting her to go, wondering what if she’s an awful singer

She says she doesn’t want her baby to go and Frank says she was never a baby

Angry with her family Ruby doesn’t go to work and the observer shows up to monitor Frank’s boat

While Ruby and Miles go swimming together

the observer realizes there is no one hearing working on the boat, and calls the coast guard neither Frank nor Leo hear the sirens

Frank’s license is suspended

and he is levied with huge fines which he won’t be able to pay back without getting back on the water

The only way they can do that is with a hearing deckhand, which Jackie says they can’t afford to hire

and Frank says Ruby is the hearing deckhand

Ruby becomes incredibly emotional asking how they can say it’s Ruby’s fault

When Frank says he’ll sell the business

Ruby agrees to give up on college, and stay and work on the boat insisting she’s excited

Leo gets angry and storms out

Jackie buys Ruby a nice dress for her concert and explains to Ruby that Leo just feels left out

Ruby says if anything, she’s the one out

She asks Jackie if she ever wishes she was deaf and Jackie tells her that when she found out she was hearing her heart sank

because she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to communicate with her, but she loves her the way she is

Ruby goes to see Leo who says Ruby can sing and needs to follow that

He says he hasn’t been able to do anything with the business and is tired of being babied and not being allowed to participate

Ruby says it’s only because it all involves talking to hearing people

and Leo says he doesn’t care let the hearing people figure out how to talk to them

At the concert, the family can’t hear Ruby perform but Gertie tells them she’s doing good

Afterward, Mr. Villalobos introduces himself attempting to say nice to meet you in sign but accidentally saying fuck you

He tells them they’re making a terrible mistake not letting Ruby go to school, but Ruby doesn’t translate it

After the concert Frank asks Ruby what her song was about and asks her to sing it for him

The next day, the whole family takes Ruby to her Berklee audition

The family is told they can’t go into the audition room with Ruby who goes in and finds Miles who says he choked at his audition

The audition begins, and Ruby realizes she left her sheet music

She’s unsure how to go on, when Mr. Villalobos enters and offers to accompany her

She starts off a little rough, and Mr. Villalobos messes up the piano on purpose to let her start again

Her family enters up on the top row of the theater and Ruby sings Both Sides Now, while signing the words

Frank trains a new hearing deckhand and the business begins going well

Jackie even bonds with the other wives and Miles learns some sign language

Ruby gets into Berklee and says goodbye to her family as Gertie drives her away

She stops and runs back to share a group hug with her family and She signs goodbye as the car drives away