Oscars 2022: Apple TV’s CODA pulls off upset win in Best Picture

A little-known, feel-good family drama has toppled a Hollywood heavyweight to take home the highest film honour of the year.

Talk about the little train that could.

When CODA was released on Apple TV+ in August, few viewers would’ve known it existed.

It had a Sundance premiere earlier in the year, where it was acquired by Apple for $US25 million, and was familiar in film circles as a drama adapted from a 2014 French movie whose main cast featured three deaf actors.

It didn’t have any marquee names with previous Oscar winner Marlee Matlin the best known of its performers, and it was on a streaming service that few people subscribed to.

But now everyone has heard of CODA, the small movie that came out of seemingly nowhere to topple Hollywood heavyweights, including the 12-times nominated and early frontrunner The Power of the Dog, for Best Picture.

It also picked up the other two Oscars it was nominated for, Best Supporting Actor win for Troy Kotsur and Best Adapted Screenplay for director and writer Sian Heder.

CODA won Best Picture. Picture: Apple

So, what should you know about CODA and how do you watch it?

The acronym CODA stands for child of deaf adults and the film is centred on the character of Ruby (Emilia Jones), a hearing teenager whose mother Jackie (Matlin), father Frank (Kotsur) and brother Leo (Daniel Durant) are all deaf.

Her family relies on her to interact with the rest of the town and the world, having her translate for them in matters to do with the struggling fishing business.

Ruby is in her final year of high school and she’s starting to think of what her future entails, including college and her aspirations to be a singer.

CODA charts her journey in which she has to balance her obligations to her family with her ambitions to live her own life.

Her family has to contend with wanting Ruby to part of their day-to-day and finding the confidence to put themselves out there in a community they haven’t always found welcoming, to acknowledging that they might need to let her go.

Troy Kotsur won Best Supporting Actor for his role in CODA. Picture: Apple

Daniel Durant, Marlee Matlin and Emilia Jones in CODA.

CODA is a classic coming-of-age story that hits all those feel-good notes, the kind of movie that warms the heart after a bruising two years.

Much of the film is in American Sign Language, and CODA’s Oscar victories is a win for the deaf community, proof that there’s no excuse to tell those stories and cast deaf actors.

Kotsur’s acting win makes him only the second deaf performer to win an Oscar. The first was CODA co-star Matlin in Children of a Lesser God in 1987.

As underdog CODA picked up momentum this awards season to unseat The Power of the Dog as the favourite going in, its high-profile fans started to speak up, including Javier Bardem who declared he cried while watching the film.

Oscars host Amy Schumer also said at the top of the ceremony that CODA was her favourite film of the year.

That was $US25 million well spent by Apple.

CODA is available to stream on Apple TV+