Columbus, written and directed by Kogonada - Nine out of 10

Columbus, written and directed by Kogonada

Nine out of 10

Columbus is a very beautiful, serene, rewarding, intriguing film that will not receive an Academy Award, although it would deserve one or a few.

The plot does not have car chases, killers ambushing victims, spider men or cartoon characters, but the resplendent architecture, the touching characters, the atmosphere that is often Zen more than make up for what mainstream fare has these days in abundance, if not excess.

The formidable, promising, very young Haley Lu Richardson has the leading role of Casey, a dedicated daughter, determined to stay in the small town of Columbus, Indiana, where she loves the glorious buildings, but would ultimately sacrifice her future if she does not move to a bigger city.

She has met and talked with one of the great architects that have given this city astounding masterpieces and was encouraged to continue her studies and not abandon her education, but she is such a self-sacrificing daughter that she puts the wellbeing of her parent above her own accomplishment, success and eventually her happiness.

Gabriel is a colleague with whom the protagonist interacts, although he appears to be if not somewhat superior, perhaps arrogant, at least aloof and distant, for when the delicate, charming, kind young girl asks him about hanging out on one day, he replies that he would go out with another friend, which although understandable, it is not commendable for he could at least have insisted on the next day.

Granted, on another occasion he is the one suggesting an outing, which Casey refuses because she would spend time with her mother – the communication between the two is at the same time interesting, natural and satirical, even cynical when they talk about degrees, the need that the girl would have to further her education, but not with a “stupid” degree.

Gabriel makes an interesting point on one occasion, after he reads about the short attention span and states that gamers have no patience to spend time reading, hence the “short attention span”, but if we turn the tables, those who love to read, are put off by games that they abandon soon after they start, bored with the plot and the repeated, pointless tasks – we could therefore say that they also have issues with their attention span.

Casey meets a Korean man, Jin – he has to repeat his name, when he is called Jim and say it is with an “N”- who is town because of his famous father that was supposed to give a lecture on architecture and has collapsed, entered a comma in which he still is in a hospital.

Jin is a translator for a publishing house, working with difficult deadlines – he explains the attitude in Korea where family is of such paramount importance – but work is even more important and he hates the fact that he has to finish what are creative, artistic tasks under such pressure.

The classic Outliers by the genius Malcolm Gladwell, one of the most important and influent psychologists of our time, refers to this Asian attitude towards work that has led to their outstanding success, economies that have risen from poverty levels to reach standards of the rich world and multiple achievements in other domains, explained to a certain extent by…the thousands of years tradition of cultivating rice.

The Korean man is much older than Casey – he says at one point that she seems to be about nineteen or twenty – perhaps twice her age, and indeed, he is the one who is reluctant to engage with the young woman who wants to communicate, invites him to see the buildings she loves and talks about her issues, her mother who used to “take meth” and suffer from addiction.

The two get along very well, although they have what appears the exact opposite attitudes towards their parents – while the young heroine is willing to commit to the mother who would suffer in her absence, Jin even goes as far as to say that he might prefer his father to…die.

He means to die in Columbus, when the interlocutor speaks about the health of the unconscious man improving at least enough for him to travel to Seoul, because once in Korea, people would expect the son to respect traditions, the ritual of showing extreme grief, otherwise a curse would descend upon the relative of the deceased and he or she would be transformed into a ghost.

The irony is that the hospitalized father does not believe in this or any other religion either, Casey shares with her new friend her similar attitude towards faith – indeed, she seems to believe very much in architecture, she has a top twenty of the best works of art in Columbus, which he takes Jin to see.

It would seem at first that this relationship cannot go anywhere, indeed, to some extend it appears a wonder that the much younger woman is the one who encourages, seeks it, while the Korean man is often reluctant, also refusing to come when invited – saying he should go – for instance to a party, which ends up being the young woman dancing with aplomb, on the music from her sometimes unfunctional car, near the building of her former school.

When the initial feeling of inadequacy gives room to a certain adaptation, the public may expect the closeness to become physical intimacy, but somehow this does not look like happening, even after the night of the “party”, when Casey finds herself in the bed of the man who slept on the couch – or at least from the look of it.

Jin does have an impact on the wonderful, generous, intelligent woman and their platonic bond may offer her the affection she has not received from her father – well, the mother was actually absent and a nuisance in the long periods when she had been a drug addict – even now, her behavior is often bizarre, she does not answer her cellular and has a colleague encounter her daughter whenever this one is looking for her parent.

Columbus is a beautiful, intriguing film.