#haleylu

[pamplemousseeeeeee]

[littleshrimpcat]

                      Columbus, Conversations and Caring

             “You grow up around something, and it feels like nothing”

This year has been a strange one for me. Questions that I’ve avoided for so long are coming back to demand the answers. It’s like I couldn’t shut them up anymore. And nothing profound happened. Unlike my dreams where I save people in the floods or rescue otters, this year has been incredibly still. The shapes and faces around me have remained the same and yet it’s impossible to describe the massive shifts that have happened inside me. Nothing has changed and yet so much has.

Maybe that’s why Columbus is still with me. After the last shot, through the softly tuned credits and even when I just stood in my kitchen wiping the sink clean.

The first time I saw glimpses of Columbus, I filed it away under my “I want to watch this but never will” movie list (come on, we all have those.) Two people talking about architecture in a sleepy town in America? I didn’t dismiss it, but yeah, I definitely thought this is going to be one of those profound coming of age movies. One with a lot of talking, where characters realise deep truths about themselves. And in one sense I was right, and also so, so wrong.

Here’s the plot – A famous architect collapses in the town of Columbus. His son Jin (John Cho) flies down from Korea to be with his father. There he meets Casey (Haley Lu Richardson), a young “architect nerd”. They meet, they talk and life moves with them. Casey shows him her favourite buildings in Columbus (a sort of mecca for modernist architecture) as they talk about their lives, their parents – all framed by the gorgeous buildings, rain and the lush trees of Columbus.

It’s hard to describe this movie without sounding typical.  And yet nothing about it is. Columbus moves gently. Friendships and truths don’t flood out. There is a lot left to the audience to infer. Yes, Jin and Casey challenge each other. But they also tentatively build a connection with each other, while managing the others around them. They don’t rely on each other to wrench out each other’s emotions. It is a relationship based on intellect and kindness and understanding each other. They snipe, they smirk, they get bored, they are exhausted and they speak just like us. There was a moment in the movie, where Casey is making an important decision. When she voices her hesitation about taking the decision and how it’s going to end badly, Jin simply replies “yeah, maybe”. I waited for him to say something deep, and he didn’t. It was simple and wonderful and acknowledged Casey’s fears. Words are sparse, simple and for a lack of a better word – real. We’ve all talked like Casey and Jin.  

The pacing of the movie is slow. Director Kogonada gives us generous shots of pure silence – Casey making tea in the kitchen, Jin standing and looking at a lush field. This is not a film that coaxes you to move with its pace. Rather, it invites you to settle in. It is a beautifully represented canvas, and underneath that quiet landscape, in the view of these gorgeous buildings, changes are quietly taking place - life altering ones.

I was and am still moved by Columbus. By the stunning cinematography of Elisha Christian, Kogonada’s masterful and generous direction, the beauty of the architecture and the exceptional work done by the cast – including Parker Posey, Rory Culkin and Michelle Forbes.

Haley Lu Richardson is outstanding. Casey is bright and scared and vulnerable. She’s at once terrifyingly responsible and also childlike in her eagerness to show Jin around. I want to see her in more movies.

I don’t really want to give too much away about the plot of this movie but I will say this - Columbus takes the small moments in our lives and builds them into something absolutely beautiful and wonderfully deep. I was isolated, I was sad and I still can’t get rid of the aching lump in my throat.

Check out the trailer here.

You can watch Kogonada’s lovely video essays here - particularly the influence of directors like Linklater and Japanese filmmaker Koreeda . 

[arktto3]

The Edge of Seventeen ／ Nadine & Krista 👭 #TheEdgeofSeventeen #HaileeSteinfeld #HaleyLu Richardson #KellyFremonCraig #スウィート17モンスター #ヘイリースタインフェルド #ヘイリールーリチャードソン #ケリーフレモンクレイグ

[arktto3]

The Edge of Seventeen ／ Nadine & Krista 👭 #TheEdgeofSeventeen #HaileeSteinfeld #HaleyLu Richardson #KellyFremonCraig #スウィート17モンスター #ヘイリースタインフェルド #ヘイリールーリチャードソン #ケリーフレモンクレイグ