Columbus

2017 • 104 minutes

About this movie

When a renowned architecture scholar falls suddenly ill during a speaking tour, his son Jin (John Cho) finds himself stranded in Columbus, Indiana - a small Midwestern city celebrated for its many significant modernist buildings. Jin strikes up a friendship with Casey (Haley Lu Richardson), a young architecture enthusiast who works at the local library. As their intimacy develops, Jin and Casey explore both the town and their conflicted emotions: Jin's estranged relationship with his father, and Casey's reluctance to leave Columbus and her mother. With its naturalistic rhythms and empathy for the complexities of families, debut director Kogonada's COLUMBUS unfolds as a gently drifting, deeply absorbing conversation. With strong supporting turns from Parker Posey, Rory Culkin, and Michelle Forbes, COLUMBUS is also a showcase for its director's striking eye for the way physical space can affect emotions.

Ratings and reviews

A film made for critics. In a lot of ways this movie reminds me of "Nebraska", the film released in 2013. What makes some great films feel realistic is not when they try to simulate reality and add some interesting camera angles, but when they make this small screen in front of us feel much larger than it is. I can look at a picture of Mount Everest from my computer but never feel the full scope of its massive size. It takes a lot of time, stories, and maps to get even a small idea of what it would be like to see it in front of you. If I could take a time machine back and put myself on the Titanic's voyage, I'm certain that in the conversations and actions I saw around me would be a lot more slow and awkward than what was depicted in the film Titanic. This is what "Columbus" does wrong. Critics are right on saying that the acting is realistic. It feels like characters are true to life average people that I know. If I could be invisible and on site to watch the story of this movie unfold in reality, it would probably be very touching to me personally. However, behind the screen, "Columbus" is just as slow paced and almost robotic as conversations in real life are.

Well composed and beautifully done indie. It does slog a little, but the emotional heft kept me going til the end. For a thoughtful and aesthetic journey, look toward this film.

A quiet film about two people, one pulling away from his father, the other clinging to her mother, set in the extraordinary Indiana small town of Columbus, known for its masterpieces of modernist public architecture.