COLUMBUS – Review

(l-r) John Cho and Haley Lu Richardson on the steps of Columbus City Hall, in COLUMBUS. Photo credit: Elisha Christian. Courtesy of Superlative Film and Depth of Field ©

COLUMBUS is not a film about the Italian explorer but about an American city named for him. No, not Columbus, Ohio, but the lesser-known Columbus, Indiana. This small Midwestern city is home to a surprising number of buildings designed by big names in mid-century Modern architecture, such as Eero Saarinen, I.M. Pei, Deborah Burke, Harry Weese and others.

St. Louisans might recognize Eero Saarinen as the designer of the Gateway Arch but architecture buffs will know those names are some of the biggest of the Modern style of architecture. If you are a fan of mid-twentieth century architecture, or of Columbus, Indiana, then COLUMBUS is the film for you. But even if not a fan of either, viewers might give this thoughtful, beautifully-shot if slowly-paced indie drama a look.

In the film COLUMBUS, a couple find themselves walking around the city of Columbus, Indiana, discussing life and architecture, as examples of its many mid-century modern building serve as backdrop.

The film is sort of in the style of BEFORE SUNRISE, in which Ethan Hawk and Julie Delpy walk around Paris and talk. There are more characters involved in COLUMBUS’s story and more consequential things happen in the end, but there is a comparable serious mindedness. In that other film, the focus was less on the city itself but this one integrates architecture into the plot and make is a central focus.

Cho plays Jin, the estranged son of a famous Korean professor of architecture, who falls seriously ill shortly after arriving in Columbus, Indiana, where he is supposed to give a lecture. Jin meets a young librarian, Casey (Haley Lu Richardson), who grew up in Columbus but is resisting pressure from friends to move away to go to college, She loves Columbus’ modern architecture and takes the skeptical Jin, who says he is not an architecture fan, on a tour.

Jin may not be a fan but he does know something about architecture. Further, Jin is at loose ends, since his father’s colleague Eleanor (Parker Posey), who had been traveling with him, has had to return home. Her departure leaves Jin on his own waiting for his father’s condition to stabilize enough to take him back to South Korea. But Jin is not eager to spend his days at the hospital with his unconscious father, so he and Casey walk around town, look at buildings, and talk, sometimes about their lives, sometimes about architecture.

The director is clearly interested in mid-century architecture and, of course, the film was shot on location. Director, writer, editor Kogonada offers a love letter to Modernist architecture and the city of Columbus in this bitter-sweet indie romantic drama. Kogonada,who was born in South Korea but grew up in the Midwest, makes his narrative film debut with COLUMBUS but the director was already well-respected for his video clip compilation short films, or supercuts, and his essays on film making.

Cho and Richardson turn in fine performances as Jin and Casey, a pair of adult children still struggling with issues with a parent, his father and her mother. The story, centered on those concerns and their growing bond, is well-written. Kogonada’s drama is languidly-paced and meditative, focused on the obligations and relationship of grown children to their parents, as well as architecture. There is a little cross cultural element as well but generally the story is universal. Cho’s Jin has conflicted feelings about the father he is estranged from but Richardson’s Casey struggles with her own issues with her fragile working-class mother Maria (Michelle Forbes). Parker Posey is excellent as Eleanor, who serves a sort of confident for Jin, much as does Casey’s co-worker at the library Gabriel (an appealing Rory Culkin). Separation from a parent, though moving away or death, are looming topics throughout.

If one is a fan of modern architecture, the film has plenty of eye-candy, packed with long views down glass corridors, beautifully composed shots under concrete archways, soaring slim shapes against blue skies, and low-slung glass and concrete structures set in green lawns. Throughout, Elisha Christian’s cinematography is excellent, even making the modest home Casey shares with her mother look good. Every shot seems perfectly framed, like paintings. The music, by Hammock, adds a dreamlike touch to the film.

Sometimes it is like paging through Architectural Digest circa late 1950s. A couple of the houses mentioned or visited were designed by Eero Saarinen, but the Miller House gets a featured role, appearing in several scenes.

One’s degree of interest in mid-century architecture is one gauge of interest in this film. While I am interested in architecture, I must admit I am not much a fan of mid-century modern, as trendy as it is. Still, mid-century modern is wildly popular and COLUMBUS shines a spotlight on the many fine examples of that architectural style this little-known small city contains.

For fans of its Modernist architecture, COLUMBUS is a visual treat but others may find its serious, thoughtful story just as engaging.

RATING: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars