Review: Columbus

Ostentatious in simplicity and masterful in execution, Columbus heralds Korean-born video essayist Kogonada as a filmmaker to watch. Strongly reminiscent of Richard Linklater's Before trilogy, the film also serves as a showcase for actors John Cho and rising star Haley Lu Richardson, both of whom mesmerise as two markedly different people connecting in the small city of Columbus, Indiana.

Richardson is Casey, a recent high school grad who's chosen to stay in her hometown. "I like Columbus," she reasons to a friend, who wonders why she hasn't elected to go to college or to explore the rest of the world. It's not a defensive stance as Casey genuinely seems to love Columbus which, as a home to a number of Modernist structures by the likes of Richard Meier and Eero Saarinen, speaks to her love of architecture. Yet she is also rooted to the place by her bond to her mother (Michelle Forbes), who works in a factory by day and cleans offices at night.

Jin (Cho), on the other hand, is a stranger to Columbus, reluctantly brought to town when his father, a famous architecture in town for a speaking engagement, falls into a coma. Jin, who has been living in Korea as a book translator, has been estranged from his father and has not inherited his interest and passion for architecture. Inevitably, he and Casey cross paths when she overhears him talking on the phone as she's smoking outside. Though separated by age, class and culture, the two are instantly at ease with one another and they get to know one another as Casey shows Jin the architectural delights of her city.

Architecture, like a photo or a snippet of a song or a particular scent, can recall a feeling or a memory. At one point, Jin speaks of how the hospital was designed to be healing and restorative and, as the two go from building to building, Kogonada reveals how each place is significant in the reveal of both Jin and especially Casey's characters. Kogonada and cinematographer Elisha Christian offer stunningly framed compositions, whether it be Jin and Casey metaphorically dancing around the architecture of Columbus or even a comparatively straightforward but no less stunning shot as Jin in his hotel room sitting beside his father's coat hanging on the door. Another beautifully crafted scene finds Jin sitting with Eleanor (Parker Posey), his father's assistant, in her hotel room as they reminisce about the crush he had on her, the two of them visible only in the mirror.

Yet Columbus is more than merely a series of impeccably designed and deeply poetic tableaux. It's about meaningful connections and how those connections can both constrain and liberate. The film may strike some as too low-key and minimalist, but there are endless depths of soulfulness to be discovered in this tenderly told tale.

Columbus

Directed by: Kogonada

Written by: Kogonada

Starring: John Cho, Haley Lu Richardson, Parker Posey, Rory Culkin, Michelle Forbes