Columbus

"Meth and modernism are really big here." Casey (Haley Lu Richardson)

If you need an example of a modern art film, look no further than the Columbus film of Korean director Kogonada. It's a minimalist treatment of familial interaction and non-sexual intimacy worthy of Richard Linklater in his early Sunrise franchise. Its greatest achievement is bonding architecture with humanity so that the former becomes a character itself.

As for the light tone of the opening quote, Columbus the film, in an act of humane tenderness, never makes fun of the people or the city.

Korean Jin (John Cho) meets Casey in small town Columbus, Indiana. Although it feels a bit like a clichéd cow town, contrarily it has some of the best modernist architecture in the USA just as the couple deal with modern challenges as they blend their millennial dysfunctions with the seriousness of love and death. He is visiting his comatose architect father while she is fighting with herself to stay at home and tend to addicted mother while a university offering her fulfillment for her architectural enthusiasm is trying to tear her away.

Although the two are developing love that is chaste and from afar, their conversation gradually takes on depth mirrored in the growing presence of buildings from the likes of Deborah Berke, Eero Saarinen, and James Stewart Polshek, a conjunction of the real and almost ethereal, as several of the stunningly stark, simple and transparent buildings reflect. That the director chooses to shoot a whole scene in a mirror, and others briefly is a tribute to the interest he has in appearance and reality and the importance of place.

This intensely and immaculately filmed indie is a fitting declaration of the melancholy unity between living lovers and dynamic architecture. Enjoy the view and dialogue; movie-making doesn't need to offer more.

The architecture on display in Columbus, Indiana is beautiful in this film, and I loved the little signs of how it related to the characters and their feelings in various scenes. John Cho and Haley Lu Richardson play people who meet by chance, and despite their age difference, support one another as each is dealing with changes in life. They're both so unforced and simply fantastic, and neither the script nor their performances ever gives in to clichés about the relationship they form. I also loved Rory Culkin in this, especially in the scene where he's talking about attention spans and video games. It's all very intelligent and the shot compositions are routinely gorgeous, with director Kogonada making use of symmetry, blurred light, and mirrors to great effect. It is a bit on the ponderous side and thus may not be for everyone, but I really enjoyed it.

I really enjoyed this movie, even though it was easily the slowest paced movie I have ever seen. I'm not sure why this worked. It was almost as if the movie gave the viewer time to think about the characters because there were so many pauses in dialog. There was a mysterious "real life" experience to watching the movie, unlike any I had ever had before, and I found myself thinking about the characters for days afterwards in the way I might think about a puzzling friend. "Columbus" should have been boring, but it wasn't.

Columbus, like many recent indie films, draws from the realities often overlooked and almost even concealed by the overpowering push toward modernity. Kogonada elucidates the real life emotions interwoven by relationships that are unhampered by technology; optimistically demonstrating how our feelings and thoughts are so salient in face to face experience that sustaining our reticence becomes more than unreasonable. The film is minimalistic in almost every sense; whether in the subtlety and astuteness of Hammock's music, the alluring stillness of Elisha Christian's cinematography or simply the fact that it was filmed entirely in Columbus Indiana over 18 days. The portrayals of Jin & Casey by John Cho & Haley Lu Richardson are overwhelmingly distilled and encapsulate the emotions of the characters in such a way to inspire both progressive introspection & nostalgia for a seemingly boundless innocence. Though Columbus is dimly innovative, Kogonada shows an incredible attention to detail creating a powerful and cohesive film that is more than worth a watch.

My wife and I watched this at home on DVD from our public library, which is fitting since the girl in the movie works in a library! Set in and filmed in Columbus, a small city of almost 50,000 in southern Indiana. Known for its architecture, that theme plays a strong role.

John Cho (about 44 during filming) is Jin from South Korea, he has come to Columbus after his father becomes very ill, too ill to fly back home. He has work to do, translating books from English to Korean, but is expected to stay for his dad who may or may not recover.

In his random wanderings he encounters Haley Lu Richardson (about 21 during filming) as Casey, recent high school graduate who chooses to stay in Columbus to be with her mom who is in a recovery process from drug use. She works part time in the Columbus library, she wants more but is uncertain how to get it.

This is a rather "quiet" movie, much of it has Jin and Casey getting to know each other, view architecture together, discuss its meaning, and ultimately what each wants in life. All this could naturally set up a romantic conclusion but it doesn't go there, he even mentions that he is much older than she.

We enjoyed the movie, it was interesting seeing the architecture, and as the movie ends we can see some development in Casey's path. A nicely worthwhile movie.