CODA & The Passage of Time
by Drew Haller
CODA quite literally refers to the concluding passage of dance — that precious, fleeting moment when you can experience completeness and clarity. Directed and produced by Hallie Haller, CODA is a short film and documentary dedicated to the reflexive instincts that overtake us at the turn of a new year and the end of an old dance. Driving along Johannesburg’s streets, friends and loved ones express themselves while sitting in the back of a moving vehicle, peering up at the cityscapes, observing the buildings that tower above them and then fade into the traffic.
This short film was an intimate look into that almost-new-year introspection when perspective warps, time slows down, and we become nostalgic for what has yet to pass or arrive. The traffic roars as the characters pause to observe the restlessness that perseveres around them. Candidly sharing lessons learnt, profundities about the meaning of time unveil themselves in sarcasm, inside jokes and anecdotes. Familiar people share unexpected coming-of-age stories — how they surprised themselves, how they doubted themselves, how they hoped, how they lost, how they won.
The landscapes transition again, and the music lulls and dips as the faces look back at us with yearning. Balancing wanting with gratitude, aspiration with blind faith, the dialogue uses sentimental surrealism to capture a fickle feeling. Rather than letting time swallow us whole — with its crises and emergencies — CODA pauses to peer into the future and conjure a belief in a new life and a new self. Coupled with stirring sound FX and tender colour-grading, CODA’s documentarian medium plays with azure panoramas, undulating tempo and pensive cinematography to spark thought about the cyclical and ritualistic ways in which we try to understand time.
Watch CODA :
CREDITS
Director / Producer Hallie Haller @_sixthsensei
Editor Matthew Henderson @hendersonmatthew
Cinematographer Nokwanda Mzelemu @cooked_sugar
2nd Unit camera operator Mthandeni Khambule @deskhamz
Sound recordist Muthu Murema @muthu_murema
Composer Nathan Redpath @kingbemusic
Colorist Ndumiso Mnguni @aka_salimoon
Compositor Karabo Matseke
Production Assistant Derrick Brak @derrickbrak
FEATURING
Jessie Dickens @flaresforfree
Lerusha Reddy
Brooke Dickens
Melvin Biza
Reneilwe Biza
Kayla McDougall
Garry Siphumelele-Chagwe
Njabulo Mpanza
Amahle Mtengenya
Jess Wright
Shameez Joubert
Wandah Farai
Kemo Bosielo
Alexia Roussos
Shea Mlandeli-Machiri
