BFI Recommends: Columbus
Our latest recommendation is a brief encounter drama set in the architectural mecca of Columbus, Indiana. David Morrison explains why you should see it.
When so many are confined to their immediate neighbourhoods, it seems appropriate to revisit sometime video essayist Kogonada’s debut feature, encompassing as it does an awareness of the designed environment and how it affects the way we feel.
A sort of cerebral brief encounter set in the midwestern architectural mecca of Columbus, Indiana, the film sees east-meeting-west in both style – a masterful blend of Ozu and Linklater – and character, as local librarian-cum-architectural enthusiast Casey (Haley Lu Richardson) meets Jin (John Cho), the son of a visiting Korean scholar taken suddenly ill. Their developing relationship has a Lost in Translation quality about it, including a penchant for key moments spoken but left unheard; Haley Lu Richardson particularly impresses with a performance that’s all about the gestures and little details.
Like the mid-century buildings it so beautifully frames, Columbus is constructed with a rigorous control suffused with emotional depth. It’s refreshing to see a film that treats modernism not as a handy signifier for alienation, but instead sees architecture’s ability to move and heal. So, do I love this film because of its distinctive visual design, contemplative pacing and intellectual tone? As Casey answers when asked a similar question about her love of a building: “No… I’m also moved by it.”
David Morrison
Digital Publishing Coordinator