Columbus

I had been impressed by the visual essays by Kogonada that I saw before his first feature, Columbus, so I was not surprised by the assurance and acuity of this film. Every shot is framed precisely with maximal impact achieved. This is important to the film because Columbus seeks to invoke the solace gained by the contemplation of art; in this case Columbus, Indiana's modernist architecture. With one exception, Kogonada keeps his camera still in a reflective gaze upon his characters and their environs. Columbus, therefore, is not at all a dynamic film and that will limit its audience. It flirts with being airless and academic, but, ultimately, I found it to be one of the more rewarding films of recent vintage.

What prevents Columbus from being an inert exercise in film theory is Kogonada's rapport with his actors. John Cho and Parker Posey have rarely been better. Relative newcomer Haley Lu Richardson is also outstanding. They flesh out a slight tale with grounded performances that are rewardingly heartfelt. Both Cho and Richardson's characters are at an impasse in their lives and each helps the other to break out of their shells. Their relationship skirts being a romantic one, but Kogonada resists ending the film in a cliched clinch. He signals the start of their relationship with a tracking shot along a fence: their meeting providing momentum that leads to personal growth and change. The two characters challenge each other's limitation for the first time, fittingly, on a bridge that they do not cross. Form is melded with content and the actors let the moment breathe.

The most recent cinematic forebears of Columbus comprise the slow film movement that has persisted in art cinema in reaction to the adrenaline charged CGI blockbusters that clog the multiplexes: Jarmusch's Paterson, Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation, the films of Bela Tarr and Cristi Puiu and Richard Linklater's sunrise and sunset films. The films of Bresson and Ozu both seem to have had an influence on Kogonada's oeuvre. I have no idea if Kogonada's output will match that of his heroes, but, regardless, Columbus is a quietly outstanding debut. (9/12/17)