Columbus, the first feature film from director and writer Kogonada, is an unexpectedly moving and still film. Set in Columbus, Indiana, the film follows the lives of Casey (played by Haley Lu Richardson) and Jin (played by John Cho). Casey is a young woman on the cusp of adulthood, delaying leaving her recently sober mother alone in her hometown and going to college, despite her brilliance. She yearns for more, but a tender sense of responsibility keeps her stuck in place. She meets Jin, an older man who has only come into town to visit his dying, semi-estranged father, a renowned architect who many revere but Jin has little affection for. She and Jin strike up a tentative friendship, as they discuss life, Columbus, and particularly, the architecture of the town around them.
Columbus, Indiana is as much a character as our two leads. Known for its real-life, innovative modernist architecture, it’s a rich, quiet, yet evocative setting for this story of yearning and ennui. Casey and Jin often bond over examining the various buildings around them. These modernist buildings are luminous, vibrating, bold. Modernity has soul in Columbus. There is a sense of the architecture living and breathing, of something hushed, hidden and holy. There is often the play of daylight and trees, as well as night and the stark buzz of artificial lighting, with these numerous works of architecture across town. The juxtaposition of the small-town atmosphere yet the artistic vibrancy of these buildings adds to the ambiance of Casey and Jin being caught in some parallel, hidden world, somehow having found each other and marveling at the works of art around them. This sense of observation reminds one of Paterson, by Jim Jarmusch, a brilliant, quiet film where a character also observes the daily beauty of the town around him.
The shots of the film are often hovering and still, yet full of dynamism. We examine the features of buildings and come back to them repeatedly. Often, shots are intimate and eye-level. We as viewers examine these buildings with the characters. We hover over white lines, long windows, glass, wood. The angles of shots often capture interiority in brilliant ways; spaces are wide open, but sometimes intimate and cocooned. Shots also hover for longer than expected. We examine the building’s corner against the sky, the reflection of light on the glass, with a particular attention. New possibilities open up, new details emerge.
The balance of Casey and Jin’s relationship is the key to the film; it’s not romantic but there is a romantic intimacy to their conversations and sharing. They are strangers when they meet, coming to each other with clean slates, a desire for connection and understanding. They see each other, through witnessing the world around them together. There is an underlying, great sadness in their yearning and in their fleeting friendship. They both have faced pain with their parents; Jin’s father is dying yet he was never close with him, and Casey is terrified her mother, who she is very close with, will relapse into drugs without her. Yet Jin and Casey must move on to greater things.
Both actors are brilliant in their understated, vivid performances. Cho conveys the tragedy of complicated loss and years of bitterness. Richardson emerges as a shining star, giving a vibrant, deeply feeling, authentic, subtle performance that shines off the screen. The marvelous thing about this film is its emotions are often subdued. We have characters trying to hold onto something they must let go of, pushing something down they must let themselves feel. There is a sense of displaced passion, great sorrow, that brims over these characters, even in secondary characters around them, such as Casey’s friend played by an excellent Rory Culkin, and Jin’s friend played by the wondrous Parker Posey. All these performances capture that depth of feeling through great subtlety.
The soundtrack by Hammock adds to the evocative atmosphere and sense of hovering observation, with its ambient sounds and soft, droning guitars and electronic beats.
Columbus is a unique film, built on longing and passion that simmers below the surface, and also a loving observation of the beauty of the world around us.
The post Rediscover: Columbus appeared first on Spectrum Culture.