Writer: Kogonada
DOP: Elisha Christian
Cast: Haley Lu Richardson, John Cho, Parker Posey
A Korean man finds himself stuck in Columbus, Indiana, where his architect father is in a coma. There he meets an arch-nerd who is postponing her graduation to stay with her mother, a recovering addict.
The town, Columbus, does not look like America at all, not that I've been to US of A. It is filled with buildings and structures that are architecturally unique. Architecture is something that is glaringly neglected in a places like Kerala, where it is the private sector that is driving the growth. The lowest tender bidding format for government building contracts doesn't really encourage architectural originality to come from there. You feel such a difference when you contrast a growing city like Kochi with the old school buildings from Trivandrum city centre with the latter having more of an identity.
Coming back to the film, it is just visually gorgeous and the theme justifies it being so. The Korean guy does not have much of a relationship with his dad and is kind of waiting for him to die so that he can go back to Korea and his routine. The girl, in sharp contrast, is overly protective of her mother and is behaving more like a parent than a child. She has a difficult 'Good Will Hunting' like decision to make, without her being portrayed as a genius. It is a very well acted film and a stunning debut for the director, who is known as a video essayist and a critic. Architecture can really make a town or city wonderful but us in India never gets a chance to experience it unless you go to places like Fort Kochi, Pondicherry etc which are just small islands in the larger scheme of things.
Rating: 4.5/5
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