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The buildings rise up out of the grass and trees like relics of a mysterious more sophisticated civilization. They are abstract, startling, sometimes anti-gravitational. They are not monuments. They were built for utilitarian purposes: banks, offices, a church, a library, a hospital. These geometric Modernist buildings pepper the landscape of the "Midwest Mecca of Architecture," Columbus, Indiana, and were designed by some of the most innovative architects of the 20th century: it's no wonder people travel there from all over to take architecture tours. Columbus' architecture is the canvas for "Columbus," the stunning directorial debut of Kogonada (mainly known up until now as a video essayist, whose Vimeo page  is a great archive of visual analysis). What Kogonada has done with "Columbus" (along with cinematographer Elisha Christian ) is to blend the background into the foreground and vice versa, so that you see things through the eyes of the two architecture-obsessed main characters. Watching the film is almost like feeling the muscles in your eyes shift, as you look up from reading a book to stare out at the ocean. From the very first shot, it's clear that the buildings will be essential. They are a part of the lives unfolding in their shadows. Sometimes it almost seems like they are listening. 

There is a story in "Columbus." What is remarkable is how intense it is, given the stillness and quiet of Kogonada's style, and the focus with which he films the buildings. 

A Korean-born man named Jin ( John Cho ) travels to Columbus to care for his father, who is in the hospital following a catastrophic collapse. Accompanying him is an old friend (and possibly onetime lover), who was also his father's star pupil, played by Parker Posey . Jin has a distant relationship with his father. He can't connect with the worry and sadness his friend is feeling. On a separate track initially, we meet Casey ( Haley Lu Richardson ), working as a page at the Cleo Rogers Memorial Library (one of the most important interiors in the film). Casey has graduated from high school but has put off going to college perhaps indefinitely because her mother is a former meth addict. ("Meth is really big here," says Casey. "Meth and Modernism.") She fears what will happen to her mother without her. Casey and a coworker ( Rory Culkin ) have interesting discussions, sitting amidst the towering stacks, their conversations a blend of tentative flirting, kindness, and gentle debate. One day, Jin bums a cigarette from Casey. They strike up a conversation. 

Over the course of "Columbus," Casey, obsessed with architecture, takes Jin around, showing him her favorite buildings (she has a list). Jin is significantly older than Casey, but he treats her as a peer. There is instantly an intimacy between them, perhaps because both are so exhausted by their life circumstances. Their dynamic is fascinating. There's an irritable quality to some of it, as though neither one of them wants to let the other "get away with" just skating off the surface of things. When Casey rattles off facts about the famous glass bank designed by Eero Saarinen, Jin gets bored. He pushes her to go deeper: what does the building make you feel ? There were only a couple of moments when the script was a little on the nose. But even in those moments the characters were wandering through such interesting spaces that there was always plenty to look at. 

Kogonada places their human figures against striking man-made backdrops with extreme care. He chooses his angles meticulously. There isn't an uninteresting shot in the whole thing. Shots repeat. Alleyways, sculptures, doorways, glass walls, the clocktower with the asymmetrical clockface, the church with the asymmetrical cross ... we go back to them again and again, Kogonada giving us time to contemplate them, to sink into them. There's so much sadness in the film, it seeps into the air. Kogonada allows space for it, interspersing the conversations between Jin and Casey, or Casey and her mother, with long still shots of the library's striking ceiling, of the glass bank gleaming at night, the glass walkway hovering over a river, of the two brick monoliths floating in the air, almost, but not quite, touching. It's a profound approach. The depth of emotion the film stirred up surprised me. I got so involved in these two people's lives. I cared about them. I liked eavesdropping on their conversations.

When I first moved to New York, every time I caught a glimpse of the Chrysler Building's whimsical jewel-like crown, my breath would catch in my throat. Eventually, over time, I got used to it as part of my everyday world. But there are moments, usually at dusk, when suddenly it's like I see it for the first time, and I stare upward, taking a moment to appreciate that architect William Van Alen thought that building up, that he saw something that beautiful in his mind, and that he knew what it would add to the skyline: something so tall, and yet also so delicate. I try to remind myself: Make sure to look at the Chrysler Building on occasion. Make sure to appreciate it. "Columbus" is a movie about the experience of looking, the interior space that opens up when you devote yourself to looking at something, receptive to the messages it might have for you. Movies (the best ones anyway) are the same way. Looking at something in a concentrated way requires a mind-shift. Sometimes it takes time for the work to even reach you, since there's so much mental ballast in the way. The best directors point to things, saying, in essence: "Look." I haven't been able to get "Columbus" out of my mind.

Sheila O'Malley

Sheila O'Malley received a BFA in Theatre from the University of Rhode Island and a Master's in Acting from the Actors Studio MFA Program. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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Columbus (2017)

104 minutes

John Cho as Jin

Haley Lu Richardson as Casey

Cinematographer

• Elisha Christian

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Review: Modernism’s Promise and an Auspicious Feature Debut in ‘Columbus’

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By Ben Kenigsberg

• Aug. 3, 2017

The existence of a debut as confident and allusive as “Columbus” is almost as improbable as the existence of Columbus, Ind., where the movie is set. Columbus’s claim to fame — other than being Vice President Mike Pence’s hometown — is that it’s an unlikely haven for modernist architecture. Through a combination of patronage and civic courtship , this southern Indiana city became a home to structures by Eliel Saarinen, I. M. Pei, Robert A. M. Stern, Richard Meier and many others.

Against this backdrop, Kogonada, a video essayist who has made artful film-analysis shorts for the Criterion Collection and Sight & Sound magazine, has shot a modest two-hander, using the architecture as a springboard for larger questions, much as his shorts are meta-riffs on the movies of Alfred Hitchcock and Richard Linklater . To his characters, a church and a bank by Eero Saarinen (Eliel Saarinen’s son) are everything and nothing.

Jin (John Cho), an English-to-Korean book translator in Seoul, travels to Columbus after his father, an architecture historian, collapses while in town for a talk. As Jin waits to find out whether his semi-estranged father will ever regain consciousness, he strikes up a friendship with Casey (Haley Lu Richardson), a tour guide and lifelong Columbus resident. A year out of high school, she is tempted to leave to study architecture, but she fears for the well-being of her unpredictable blue-collar mother (Michelle Forbes), for whom she cooks and essentially looks after.

Over several days, as Casey and Jin wander the sites, they debate such heady ideas as the healing power of buildings, modernism’s relationship to religion, and why — or whether — architecture means something to them. (“You grow up around something and it feels like nothing,” Jin says.) Kogonada also introduces parallel not-quite love interests: for Casey, a librarian (Rory Culkin) whose disquisition on the relative interest of video games and books may be intended as advice on how to watch this film; for Jin, a colleague of his father’s (Parker Posey) on whom he had a crush as a teenager.

The acknowledged influence of the great Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu looms over the proceedings. Kogonada draws not only on Ozu’s frequent theme of generational conflict but also on his shooting style. (Like Ozu, he often “crosses the line,” violating the conventions of how the camera is positioned relative to the characters in a scene.) The found backgrounds are as suggestive as the dialogue, with the director often observing his actors through doorways and mirrors.

“Columbus” can be slyly mysterious from a structural standpoint, both with respect to the plot’s elisions and several cuts that demand that viewers fill in the blanks. The movie leaves quite a bit to the eye of the beholder, but it’s always worth looking at.

Columbus Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes.

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Columbus review – the beauty of brutalism

I t’s remarkable how little actually happens in this delicate account of a fleeting connection between two people temporarily adrift in the city of Columbus, Indiana. Nonetheless, in its own meandering way, the film builds to something quietly profound. In its precision – the framing of each shot is as eloquent as the dialogue – and measured pacing, Columbus is a balm, a deep tissue massage for the soul.

Jin (John Cho) is avoiding the purgatory of hospital waiting rooms while his father, an eminent scholar from South Korea, lies in a coma. Casey (Haley Lu Richardson; superb), who has put life on hold to keep her addict mother on track, works in a library, flirting with her bookish colleague, Gabriel (Rory Culkin).

Director Kogonada cites Ozu as an influence and it’s evident, both in the complexity of the family relationships and in the use of the physical space around the characters. The latter is particularly key – what draws Jin and Casey together is a shared awareness of the mid-century modernist architecture for which the city is famous. There’s a playfulness too – Casey pays tribute to a building that is “asymmetrical but still balanced”. The same can be said of almost all of the elegantly constructed shots that follow.

The message that brutalism is not only beautiful but therapeutic will probably have its detractors, but for those who, like me, love both pensive arthouse cinema and cantilevered concrete structures, it’s a rare treat.

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Film Review: ‘Columbus’

An assured and hypnotic debut from tyro writer/director Kogonada with a terrific cast.

By Geoff Berkshire

Geoff Berkshire

Associate Editor, Features

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There’s an old saying, often attributed to Martin Mull, “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.” In many ways first-time writer/director Kogonada’s “Columbus” treats architecture like music, as its protagonists write, talk, bicker, and dance about an extraordinary collection of modernist structures in the unassuming Midwest town of Columbus, Ind. The hypnotically paced drama carried by the serendipitous odd-couple pairing of John Cho and Haley Lu Richardson is lovely and tender, marking Kogonada as an auteur to watch.

A film critic and video essayist with evident affection for the work of Asian masters ranging from Yasujirō Ozu to Hirokazu Koreeda, the mono-monikered director examines the relationships between his characters and their environment with an architect’s attention to detail. That he also trains his lens on a place and people rarely explored on film, and provides a quintet of terrific performers with the opportunity to stretch and showcase their skills, only adds to his debut’s unique appeal.

Casey (Richardson) has lived in Columbus her entire life. Fast approaching her 20s (or possibly just starting them, it’s not clear), she’s beginning to think about next steps. But a deep connection to her hometown and a strong bond with her working-class mother (Michelle Forbes, moving and lived-in), a recovering addict now in a stable place, makes Casey apprehensive about leaving to pursue her interest in architecture.

Jin (Cho) left his family behind years ago, but returns to the U.S. from his new life in Korea, where he translates literature, when his architecture professor father collapses on a visit to Columbus and is hospitalized in a coma. Although his passions led elsewhere, Jin retains a lingering guilt, and defensiveness, over his lack of family commitment.

Casey and Jin inevitably cross paths, and their casual conversations blossom into a genuine friendship, and possible a courtship. Nothing is quite so simple in “Columbus,” and Kogonada is more interested in the characters’ overlapping and divergent worldviews and dreams, based on culture, environment, and upbringing.

The pair each have a secondary confidante/love interest. Jin with his father’s colleague (Parker Posey, vibrant), on whom he nursed a crush in his youth, and Casey with hyperarticulate Doctoral student Gabriel (Rory Culkin, charming). At one point Gabriel delivers a spellbinding dissection of the modern attention span, suggesting Kogonada is aware of the material’s ponderous nature and specialized audience appeal.

But those who appreciate “Columbus” will likely take it to heart. The relationships between each of the characters are imbued with warmth and humanity, and the filmmaking — like the city’s structures designed by the likes of Eero Saarinen and I.M. Pei — is simply gorgeous.

The modernist landmarks in Columbus (incidentally the hometown of Vice President Mike Pence) are true co-stars here. Casey’s appreciation of the “healing power” of buildings stirs something in Jin that never quite connected when he was with his father (although it’s surely no coincidence their bond coincides with his father’s coma), and the film’s gentle explorations of class divides — we’re constantly reminded of the people trying to make a living inside of these works of art — qualify as a timely addition to the current national dialog.

But Kogonada, who also serves as the editor, has also made a film that feels timeless. From Elisha Christian’s rigorously composed cinematography to Hammock’s sparingly but very effectively used ambient electro score (the film gets just as much emotion out of stretches of silence and layered sound design).

At the center of it all, amid the buildings, are Cho and Richardson. One veteran demonstrating his untapped ability as a captivatingly sincere leading man, and one relative newcomer proving her ability of holding the screen with maximum soulfulness in a minimalist drama. Together they form an unexpected, but perfectly constructed, pair.

Reviewed at Sundance Film Festival (Next), Jan. 24, 2017. Running time: 104 MIN.

• Production: A Superlative Films and Depth of Field presentation in association with Nonetheless Productions. Producers: Andrew Miano, Aaron Boyd , Danielle Renfrew Behrens, Chris Weitz, Giulia Caruso, Ki Jin Kim. Executive producers: Bill Harnisch, Ruth Ann Harnisch, Max A. Butler, Mattia Bogianchino, Beatrice Camerana.
• Crew: Director/writer/editor: Kogonada. Camera (color, HD): Elisha Christian. Music: Hammock.
• With: John Cho, Haley Lu Richardson, Rory Culkin, Michelle Forbes, Parker Posey. (English, Korean dialogue.)

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‘Columbus’ Uses Stunning Images To Breathe Life Into A Familiar Story

Sometimes dubbed the “Athens of the Prairie,” the small city of Columbus, Indiana can be found less than an hour south of Indianapolis. It has two related claims to fame: It’s home to the engine company Cummins and to remarkable examples of modernist architecture and public art by such giants as Eliel and Eero Sarrinen, Harry Weese, Henry Moore, Dale Chihuly and others. It’s a place where a local architecture fan like Casey (Haley Lu Richardson, best known as Hailee Steinfeld’s levelheaded friend in The Edge Of Seventeen ) can have a list of favorite buildings that runs deep into double digits — yet still yearn to escape.

In Columbus , the first feature from the single-named writer/director Kogonada, Columbus is also home to more than its share of discontentment. It’s beautiful, but for Casey it’s also something of a trap. A year out of high school with no college plans on the horizon and a mom (Michelle Forbes) with substance abuse issues, she feels stuck. Sure, her go-nowhere job involves working at a library designed by I.M. Pei, but it’s still a go-nowhere job.

If Casey sounds, in bare description, like an indie film cliché, so does Jin (John Cho), the film’s other protagonist. He’s called to Columbus from his translation job in Seoul when his father, a renowned professor of architecture, falls ill. With his life upended, he’s forced to confront their troubled relationship as his father hangs between life and death. That may sound like the sort of film you’ve seen before, and in some respects it is. Kogonada is less concerned with creative a dynamic narrative than pushing his protagonists, inch by stubborn inch, to meaningful realizations about their lives — often through earnest, late-night conversations — that we see coming long before they do. One needs to get out. The other needs to let the significance of the place sink in. It’s the stuff Sundance movies are made of.

But Columbus defies expectations in virtually every other sense. Best known for his remarkable video essays Kogonada brings a lifetime of studying cinematic language to the film. Each shot is as carefully planned and meticulously assembled as the buildings that often fill their frames. Several drinks into the night, Jin makes a pass at his lifelong crush, his father’s co-worker, played by Parker Posey. That it won’t end well is apparent from the start, less from the conversation than the way the director sets up the scene, with the action playing out in mirrors that keep each character separated, kept apart by far more than the length of a bedroom.

There’s not a dull image in the movie, and the unhurried pace can make even simple gestures seem breathtaking, as when Kogonada, after a scene that otherwise keeps its distance, cuts to a close-up Casey’s hand tracing the lines of a building while clutching a half-smoked cigarette. It’s a seemingly mundane moment that becomes almost magical thanks to the way it’s conveyed; there’s more than a cigarette burning when she talks about her passions. Both excellent, Richardson and Cho are tuned into Kogonada’s wavelength, never pushing to far characters defined in part by their inability to express themselves or share an honest emotion. Like the film around them, their work is made more moving by their restraint.

Early in the movie, Casey’s co-worker and sort-of crush (played by Rory Culkin) delivers a monologue about how what we usually talk about as diminishing attention spans is simply a matter of priorities getting shifted. Bookish people are bored, for instance, by video games in the same way that video game-loving people are bored when asked to read for long stretches. The film provides an unspoken rebuttal to that monologue, however. Bookish people know they can’t look away once they’ve learned about the pleasures of the text just as those who tuned into how movies work understand the value of watching carefully. In its best moments, Columbus doubles as a reminder that films speak in a language all their own, and that language often cuts deeper than words.

Columbus opens in limited release on Friday, August 4th before expanding.

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Movie Review: Columbus (2017)

• Doug Hennessy
• Movie Reviews
• One response
• --> September 12, 2017

Yes, the movie Columbus does take place in Columbus, Indiana, the childhood home of current US Vice-President, Mike Pence, but there’s no politics here since first time director/writer Kogonada delves into that part of Columbus with the remarkable artistic distinction of being the hub of modern architecture in the US.

Banks, post offices, churches, and homes were designed by world-famous architects such as Eero Saarinen, Kevin Roche, I.M. Pei, and others.

Kogonada is a cinephile and movie reviewer who produces video essays for the Criterion Collection and Sight & Sound magazine about arthouse directors like Andrei Tarkovsky, Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard and his clear favorite, Yasujiro Ozu. In fact his nom-de plume comes from Ozu’s frequent screenwriter Kogo Noda. Therein lies the key to the style and pacing of this daring and accomplished new film.

The story, as in Ozu’s case, is not the thing. Casey (Haley Lu Richardson, “ The Edge of Seventeen ”), a recent high school graduate who volunteers at the town library (an I.M. Pei building, coincidentally) sees herself as a reader and therefore a “true nerd.” She can wax ecstatic about the style, form and beauty of the architecture in town capturing listeners with her insights, clarity and enthusiasm to the point where they wonder why she’s not going off to architecture school.

“And leave the beauty that’s here in Columbus?” is her evasive answer.

The truth is Casey’s mother Maria (Michelle Forbes, “ The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 ”) is just out of a drug rehabilitation facility and still needs Casey at home; it makes Casey feel needed and she won’t leave her mother.

Meanwhile a world-famous architect from Korea has come to town to give a lecture; he has a heart attack and is put in the hospital. When his son, Jin (John Cho, “ Star Trek Beyond ”), a translator, arrives to visit him, he hooks up with Casey, and together they tour the town, admire the buildings, talk art and architecture and how it influences their lives. It’s great dialogue as the two avoid opening up about what they feel about themselves, each other and their parents. Chin, also an informed architecture student, having learned the art form from his father, is impressed by Casey’s knowledge and he too wonders why she’s not going off to architecture school.

Columbus is a slight story told without much movement or action. When the lecturer has his attack we don’t see it or see him fall, but see him later when his body is flat on the grass. When Casey and Chin first meet and talk, they walk along and share a cigarette with a fence between them during the whole conversation.

In contrast, Eleanor (Parker Posey, “ Irrational Man ”), a doting admirer of the lecturer, meets with Jin, effusively telling him how much his father has meant to her. She is the one who got the lecturer into the hospital, and visits him, while Jin tours the buildings with Casey. Jin tells Casey that as a Korean son he’s expected to demonstrate great sadness and pain about his father’s medical condition, but he can’t do it. His father was always away and distracted with his love of architecture, neglecting his family. Casey admits that she has a similar problem with her mother being a drug addict.

Kogonada’s point here is how those involved in the arts as appreciators, analysts and critics can use the art as an escape from their personal issues. Casey’s coworker (Rory Culkin, “ Scream 4 ”) at the library says this early in the film when he debates Casey about how people who read think they are superior to video-game players when both are doing the same thing — escaping from reality with creative art. Kogonada’s camera, now becomes still as he carefully frames and composes the buildings in all their asymmetrical beauty showing how the architecture comes between Casey and Jin, actually doing the talking for them.

It all comes full circle, when finally one night Jin asks Casey to stop the intellectual tour-guide patter about architecture as he already knows all this stuff, he wants to hear what she’s afraid to talk about, what the architecture really means to her, how it makes her feel. He wants from Casey what Eleanor expressed to him earlier.

And with his first movie Kogonada shows respect for the intelligence of his audience, with long takes that allows them to think about what they’re seeing and what it can possibly mean. It’s a beauty.

Tagged: addict , architect , father , hospital , relationship

Critic of movies. Board member of film festivals. All around great guy.

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Columbus (I) (2017)

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Quiet, talky character drama has exceptional performances.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Several positive messages about pursuing higher ed

Casey is intelligent, curious, and deep-thinking.

Quick shot of a man sprawled out on the floor.

A man kisses a married woman; she soon asks him to

Infrequent: "s--theads," "s--t," "f--k."

Casey and Jin both regularly smoke cigarettes. Jin

Parents need to know that Columbus is an indie drama about a 30-something man (John Cho) and a younger woman (Haley Lu Richardson) who bond while in the titular small town in Indiana, which is famous for its modernist architecture. A character study with beautiful cinematography, the movie doesn't have much…

Positive Messages

Several positive messages about pursuing higher education, the importance of mentor-mentee relationships, and the power of architecture/spaces around you. Communication and empathy are themes. Heavy topics addressed include mortality, parent-child relationships, drug use, and more.

Positive Role Models

Casey is intelligent, curious, and deep-thinking. Casey loves and cares for her mother so much that she put off college indefinitely to make sure her mom didn't relapse. Jin is encouraging to Casey and sees how much potential she has; he doesn't want her to waste her talent. Diversity within the cast.

Violence & Scariness

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

A man kisses a married woman; she soon asks him to stop. One character tells another that he must be romantically interested in a younger woman, but he denies it. Two co-workers sort of flirt, but nothing happens between them. Casey and Jin get emotionally close over the course of their time together, but their relationship remains platonic.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Drinking, drugs & smoking.

Casey and Jin both regularly smoke cigarettes. Jin and Elena drink at a bar/restaurant. Discussion of a character's meth addiction.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Columbus is an indie drama about a 30-something man ( John Cho ) and a younger woman ( Haley Lu Richardson ) who bond while in the titular small town in Indiana, which is famous for its modernist architecture. A character study with beautiful cinematography, the movie doesn't have much of a plot, but it does have heavy themes (parents' mortality, strained parent-child relationships, the important of architecture, higher education/college, philosophy, drug use, and more), which are addressed through the main characters' intense conversations. There's a brief kiss between a married woman and an unmarried man, as well as discussion of a character's meth addiction. Language is infrequent but includes "s--t" and "f--k." Although this is a quiet film, it's powerful and should appeal to older teens who have an interest in filmmaking, architecture, and unique friendships. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Based on 3 parent reviews

Intensely beautiful film, not for the simple minded

What's the story.

COLUMBUS is set not in Ohio's capital city, but in the small Indiana town that's known for its modernist architectural treasures. Jin ( John Cho ), the adult son of an internationally renowned Korean architect, arrives in the area because his father was hospitalized while in town to give a lecture. Casey ( Haley Lu Richardson ), meanwhile, is an intellectually curious 19-year-old local who works at the library (one of the town's architectural gems) instead of going away to college because she doesn't want to leave her mother ( Michelle Forbes ), a recovering meth addict. Jin and Casey meet shortly after she spots him outside the hospital, where her mom works. The two begin to meet up and tour Columbus' famous architectural spots while discussing their fraught relationships with their parents, higher education, philosophy, and the future. Their touching, platonic relationship leads to revelations for them both.

Is It Any Good?

Visually gorgeous, this exceptionally acted indie drama is a compelling character study as well as a love letter to a town that boasts some of the United States' most important architecture. After scene-stealing supporting performances in Edge of Seventeen and Split , Richardson does a beautiful job in a leading role, capturing Casey's intelligence, concern over her mother, and frustration that she's a bit stuck without a college education. But the emotion that's a true revelation is Casey's awe, which Richardson conveys every time Casey looks at (or, more accurately, meditates on) the amazing architecture around her -- particularly the Deborah Berke-designed Irwin Union Bank, whose drive-through features a gorgeous glass canopy. Casey shares her love of architecture with Jin, who admits he doesn't know much about it, despite his father's prominence. What Jin does want to know isn't the "tour guide talk," but how Casey feels about the architecture. Once she starts sharing, neither of them can stop, even though their time together includes a fair amount of companionable silence (and reflecting on their surroundings).

Director (and writer and editor) Kogonada is best known for visual essays or supercuts that explain the genius of auteurs; if Columbus is any indication, he has the talent to perhaps someday join his former subjects. The symmetry (or asymmetry) of nearly every shot is meticulous, highlighting the beauty of Columbus' architecture, whether it's award winning and historical, or, in the case of Casey's house, a lower-middle-class rambler. As for Cho, he plays against type here, with very little of the humor his early career was based on. Parker Posey and Rory Culkin are also quite good in supporting roles as Jin's father's protégé/former student and Casey's brainy library co-worker, respectively. Ultimately, though, it's Richardson, Cho, and Columbus itself that are the stars of this film, which may make audiences want to book a flight to Indiana.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about what they think about the main characters in Columbus . Do you consider them role models ? What character strengths , if any, do they demonstrate?

How big a role does the actual town of Columbus play in the movie? Does it make you want to learn more about the town's history and/or architecture? Where would you start?

Why do you think the movie has been so critically acclaimed? What tends to make film critics respond positively to a movie? What makes them respond negatively?

Do you think viewers assume that any relationship between a man and a woman in a movie will turn romantic? Do you?

Movie Details

• In theaters : August 4, 2017
• On DVD or streaming : November 3, 2017
• Cast : John Cho , Haley Lu Richardson , Parker Posey
• Director : Kogonada
• Inclusion Information : Asian directors, Asian actors, Female actors
• Studio : Depth of Field
• Genre : Drama
• Topics : Friendship
• Character Strengths : Communication , Empathy
• Run time : 104 minutes
• MPAA rating : NR
• Last updated : June 21, 2023

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‘Columbus’ review — Romantic and charming, John Cho and Haley Lu Richardson are stellar

Columbus  is a charming and romantic movie in the vein of  before sunrise  that features stellar performances by haley lu richardson and john cho.

Quick review: Anchored by two Oscar-worthy performances, Columbus is perhaps one of the great romances of the decade.

Columbus, a small city located in southeastern Indiana, is a juxtaposition. Even though it’s located deep in the midwest, it has become a mecca for modern architecture and art.

It’s almost as far from the culture-rich liberal coasts as you can get, yet it still lays claim to some of the biggest advancements of postwar modernism in the United States. But what does that have to do with writer-director Kogonada’s debut film named after the city? Well, everything.

Columbus  is about relationships. The relationship between modern architecture and the city. The relationship between a father and son, a mother and daughter. But, at the core, it’s about the relationship between Casey ( Haley Lu Richardson ), an 18 or 19-year-old young woman who works at the public library, and Jin ( John Cho ), a Korean-American man who returns to the US after working overseas when his father falls ill.

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Over a couple of  Before Sunrise – esque  days, Casey and Jin learn about each other’s pasts, where they are now in their lives, and where they think they should be in the future. And that’s really all there is to it.

Along the way, there are revelations that test this new friendship — or is it more? But what they have in common is a steadfast appreciation for modern architecture, which is what brings them together in the first place. Casey loves it from growing up in the town.

Jin simply absorbed the information through his father’s studies and his journal. And though their conversations pretty much only surround architecture, Kogonada infuses them rich subtext that makes the movie a beautiful character study at its core.

Cho, best known for  Harold & Kumar  and the  Star Trek  films , gives a remarkable performance that demands he be taken seriously as an actor. Asian men don’t often get the chance to be leading men, especially in romances. But Cho controls the screen with a steely conviction. More impressively, he is able to decide when to allow audiences to understand his thought process, which makes his emotional arc all the more impactful.

However, he gives room for his scene partners to shine — he often plays across Eleanor ( Parker Posey )   an old friend and his father’s assistant — particularly Richardson, whose performance is simply astounding and one of the best of the year.

What I found so refreshing about  Columbus  is that it captures a specific time in life. The time where you’re at a crossroads — in this case, post-high school — and have to decide what direction you want to take. However, as with many aspects of life, there is pressure from all sides. Even from people that don’t realize their applying pressure.

Casey feels pressure to pursue education from her co-worker Gabriel ( Rory Culkin , a scene-stealer), but feels stuck looking after her mother Maria ( Michelle Forbes , fantastic here) ,a recovering drug addict, Richardson portrays that desire to just push back on the pressure and scream so adeptly that it feels like a gut punch once you recognize the feeling. It’s remarkable considering this movie for most of its running time is quiet and meditative — though that doesn’t make it any less impactful.

Columbus  is one of those gems that doesn’t seem like anything extraordinary until you’re sitting through the credits trying to absorb what you just watched. In terms of conversation movies, it approaches the level of  Before Sunset,  which I consider the best of the  Before  trilogy. Kogonada allows the conversation to flow naturally, but with purpose, and that purpose is for two completely different people, a juxtaposition in their own right, to understand each other and eventually help the other understand which road to take.

The beautiful thing is that we don’t know if it’s the right road, but the ending is still filled with hope. Something that we need more of in film.

Columbus  is available to stream on Hulu or on Digital HD on Amazon!

Karl Delossantos

Hey, I'm Karl, founder and film critic at Smash Cut. I started Smash Cut in 2014 to share my love of movies and give a perspective I haven't yet seen represented. I'm also an editor at The New York Times, a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, and a member of the Online Film Critics Society.

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• Karl Delossantos https://smashcutreviews.com/author/karldelogmail-com/ 2014 Oscar Predictions: Best Director (Is Alfonso Cuarón a Lock to Win?)

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Columbus (2022) Film Review

• Jack Walters
• March 7, 2022

Kogonada’s Columbus is a dreamlike exploration of the lost being found, and the drifting impacts we have on each other’s lives.

When people say that Columbus is a love story, they probably don’t mean it in the way you’d expect. The film follows the budding relationship between two individuals who are thrown together by life’s endlessly unpredictable twists, but it’s not the bond between these two that makes up Columbus ’ dreamlike romance – but rather the love and lessons that the pair give each other on life itself . It’s a film for those who feel lost , for those who may not know exactly what their purpose on Earth is – if we even have one at all. But Columbus assures us that that’s okay, and that the deeply personal journey we all undergo through different points of our lives is much more universal than we may have thought.

Casey (Haley Lu Richardson) is a young architecture enthusiast, living with her recovering mother and working in a local library as she tries to figure out where she wants to go in her life. Jin (John Cho) is the son of a renowned scholar, rushed from Korea to Indiana after his father falls ill during their trip. The pair have one thing in common – architecture . Casey finds herself lost in Jin’s many stories of his father, who studied and practiced architecture for most of his life. As Jin shares his wisdom with young Casey, and Casey shares her vast knowledge of the town with Jin, the pair soon begin to open up to one another and realize that maybe they have more in common than they’d initially thought. Maybe their individual struggles – their family issues, troubled pasts, and crises of identity – aren’t actually individual at all.

What’s so striking and effective about Columbus is just how natural the conversations are between the two central characters. Despite much of the runtime being slowly-paced, quiet exchanges of dialogue, it’s unbelievably easy to lose yourself in their unique dynamic and complex lives, not least because of how comfortingly relatable it is. There are whole extended sequences that are just uninterrupted conversations, but Kogonada’s expert screenplay allows these to play out in a natural and engaging way that develops the characters through details as plain and simple as their mannerisms and dialect. It all comes together to form a narrative that has no real structure , but instead relies on its beautifully dreamlike atmosphere to push its message through on an emotional level, rather than focusing on an arbitrary plot that would serve only to distract from the film’s core.

The two central characters drive the entire film forward in Columbus , so it’s no surprise that leads John Cho and Haley Lu Richardson are given plenty of opportunities to shine, and both turn in astoundingly nuanced performances that may just be some of the best of that year. They explore their respective characters with so much depth, taking every opportunity to display the full depth and scope of their complex personalities. Even when they make decisions that are hard to justify, or reveal truths that aren’t easy to forgive, the characters still come across as entirely genuine and human – which makes for some of the most compelling storytelling out there.

The story works perfectly in harmony with Elisha Christian’s precise and acute cinematography , which helps both to develop the distinctly hypnotic tone of the narrative and also helps form many of the film’s complex ideas into a specific type of visual poetry through her keen eye for detail. You can see the amount of thought that goes into each individual shot, both through the intricate framing and detailed lighting/colors. Even in the moments that the story is lagging behind, or when the characters aren’t even on screen, the visual complexity behind Christian’s shots is more than enough to hold your attention and get your mind working as you try and piece together the elements of the film’s optical puzzles.

At the end of the day, Casey and Jin are nothing more than two lost souls trying to navigate their own lives with the help of the other. There are elements of romance, and there are elements of friendship, but the strongest relationship that the film conveys is the inner connection that these characters form with themselves. Columbus is a film about how life can’t be seen in black and white – some things can’t be explained with logic or intellect, but rather with a personal sense of longing or purpose. It might be painfully relatable and dishearteningly cold at times, but it’s also warm and comforting in the most surprising of ways .

Columbus is now available to watch on digital and on demand.

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2017 Directed by Kogonada

In the middle of all the mess... there was this.

When a renowned architecture scholar falls suddenly ill during a speaking tour, his son Jin finds himself stranded in Columbus, Indiana - a small Midwestern city celebrated for its many significant modernist buildings. Jin strikes up a friendship with Casey, a young architecture enthusiast who works at the local library.

John Cho Haley Lu Richardson Michelle Forbes Rory Culkin Parker Posey Erin Allegretti Shani Salyers Stiles Reen Vogel Rosalyn R. Ross Lindsey Shope Jem Cohen Caitlin Ewald Jim Dougherty Joseph Anthony Foronda Alphaeus Green, Jr. Wynn Reichert

Director Director

Assistant directors asst. directors.

Emily A. Neumann Eric Williams

Producers Producers

Chris Weitz Danielle Renfrew Behrens Andrew Miano Aaron Boyd Giulia Caruso Ki Jin Kim John Boccardo Robert A. Compton Joshua A. H. Harris Jeff Rodman

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

Max A. Butler Bill Harnisch Ruth Ann Harnisch Mattia Bogianchino Beatrice Camerana

Writer Writer

Casting casting, editor editor, cinematography cinematography.

Elisha Christian

Lighting Lighting

Justin Hughes

Production Design Production Design

Art direction art direction.

Adriaan Harsta

Title Design Title Design

Composers composers.

Marc Byrd Andrew Thompson

Sound Sound

Brandon Proctor Andrea Gard Mac Smith Steve Grider

Costume Design Costume Design

Emily Moran

Makeup Makeup

Stacy Lockhart

Hairstyling Hairstyling

Anna Aldrich

Nonetheless Productions Depth of Field Superlative Films

Primary Language

Spoken languages.

English Korean

Releases by Date

22 jan 2017, theatrical limited, 04 aug 2017, 14 sep 2017, 23 sep 2017, 22 dec 2017, 19 apr 2018, 21 jun 2018, 05 oct 2018, 01 dec 2017, 19 nov 2018, releases by country.

• Theatrical 12
• Digital U e-cinema
• Theatrical IIA
• Theatrical 12A
• Theatrical M/12

South Korea

• Physical 12A
• Premiere Sundance Film Festival
• Theatrical limited PG-13

105 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Lucy ★★★★★ 55

"i'm also moved by it" "yes! yes, tell me about that: what moves you?" "i thought you hated architecture" "i do. but i'm interested in what moves you"

passion is underrated. we do what we have to, we help those around us. we do what we have to to get by. every day can be a struggle when you're living a life you don't want to. even if you don't realize that it's not what you want

finding people that share your same passions is one of the most important kinds of relationships in life. what's even more, is finding someone that doesn't share your exact passion, but will listen to what you have to say. spill your guts: gush…

Review by Ashton ★★★★½ 7

Find someone that looks at you the way Kogonada's camera looks at every single thing in the world.

Review by cinéfila... 🕯️ ★★★★★ 6

if kogonada wants to go the linklater way and reunite haley lu richardson and john cho in 10 years for another dialogue-heavy, gentle, calming film about passionate people just walking around town and going about their lives, i'd be *so* on board. i didn't want this film to end. these are characters i want to spend more time with, listen to, and get to know better. i'll be watching this again soon, obviously, and i'll try to properly review it then.

Review by Karst ★★★★½ 5

1. One of the best shot films I've seen in a while. Every single shot is so carefully framed and makes you want to pause and just look at it for a while. 2. This movie feels like it was made for people to write essays about it. Metaphors are being thrown at you left and right to a point where I don't know what is and isn't symbolic. 3. I all of a sudden want to visit Columbus very badly.

Review by Lucy ★★★★★ 15

"thanks. for everything" "thank you. for being here"

the most profound new discovery i've experienced all year. i've been in such a bad place lately that i almost forgot what falling in love with a film felt like. i'm at peace, for a moment at least. and that's enough

Review by diana ★★★★

Every single shot in this told me I was ugly

Review by iana ★★★★★ 12

this might be a weird thing to say considering its ozu-like, detached style, but columbus feels like a hug

Review by Josh Lewis ★★★★ 6

A movie about the still, composed spaces we create for ourselves and how we are nothing like them.

Review by #1 gizmo fan ★★★★★ 8

"It was hard. It was really hard for a long time."

You know that feeling where you finally breathe again, just moments after being underwater? I felt that tonight. I finally felt that again.

Review by Lucy ★★★★★ 10

“but you need to stop feeling bad”

rewatching this feels like coming home. there will never be another film like columbus

“yeah. so do you”

Review by SilentDawn ★★★★ 16

Speaks strongly to anyone who understands that the space between two smokers lighting up, while ultimately destructive, is about as peaceful and constant as any place on earth. Just like home.

Review by Josh Lewis ★★★★

Meth and modernism.

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Goodbye, Columbus

1969, Comedy/Drama, 1h 45m

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Goodbye, columbus videos, goodbye, columbus   photos.

Neil Klugman (Richard Benjamin), a young librarian in New Jersey, has eyes for Brenda Patimkin (Ali MacGraw), a beautiful Radcliffe student. Although they are both Jewish, Brenda's family is much wealthier and more conservative than Neil's. As there relationship matures, their differing cultural backgrounds cause Brenda's mother (Nan Martin) to have trepidations about the couple. As their disparate ideas about sex and birth control come to the fore, their feelings for each other are tested.

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Original Language: English

Director: Larry Peerce

Producer: Stanley R. Jaffe

Writer: Arnold Schulman

Release Date (Theaters): Apr 3, 1969  original

Release Date (Streaming): Jun 15, 2011

Runtime: 1h 45m

Distributor: Paramount Pictures

Production Co: Willow Tree

Cast & Crew

Richard Benjamin

Neil Klugman

Ali MacGraw

Brenda Patimkin

Jack Klugman

Ben Patimkin

Mrs. Ben Patimkin

Michael Meyers

Ron Patimkin

Lori Shelle

Julie Patimkin

Monroe Arnold

Kay Cummings

Doris Klugman

Sylvie Strause

Aunt Gladys

Royce Wallace

Larry Peerce

Arnold Schulman

Screenwriter

Stanley R. Jaffe

Enrique Bravo

Cinematographer

Gerald Hirschfeld

Ralph Rosenblum

Film Editing

Charles Fox

Original Music

Emanuel Gerard

Art Director

Gene Coffin

Costume Design

Critic Reviews for Goodbye, Columbus

Audience reviews for goodbye, columbus.

What a waste of film. I can't believe I watched the whole film. This was listed under romantic/Comedy and it is neither. I don't recommend anyone to watch this film. It's just pointless.

probably the best adaptation of a Roth novel(la), which isn't an easy thing to accomplish. it is, of course a watered down version of the story missing a lot of the nuances of Roth's superb writing- but is entertaining throughout. The dramatic impact of the end is far less effective on screen though.

I know I saw it and it was okay, but I don't remember much about it.

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Horror movie ‘Late Night With the Devil’ earns eerie amount at box office, Variety reports

(NEXSTAR) – In an eerie twist that’s sure to please the publicity team behind “Late Night With the Devil,” the new horror movie earned $666,666 at the box office on Sunday, Variety reported.

The film, which hit theaters March 22, earned a total of $2.8 million during its entire opening weekend. In doing so, it also gave IFC Films its biggest opening weekend ever, shattering the previous record of $826,775 earned during the opening of 2022’s “Watcher” despite debuting on roughly the same number of screens, according to Variety .

It’s worth nothing that Box Office Mojo, an online resource for box-office data, did not yet account for Sunday’s earnings for “Late Night With the Devil” on its site as of Monday. ( Deadline published estimates that the film earned slightly more than Variety reported — $733,000 on Sunday — though representatives for IFC Films were not immediately available to confirm the box-office tally for Nexstar.)

The found footage-style horror film stars David Dastmalchian (“The Suicide Squad,” “Oppenheimer”) as Jack Delroy, the host of a fictional 1970s talk show.  

“However, ratings for the show have plummeted since the tragic death of Jack’s beloved wife,” reads a plot description at the film’s official site. “Desperate to turn his fortunes around, on October 31st, 1977, Jack plans a Halloween special like no other — unaware he is about to unleash evil into the living rooms of America.”

As of Monday morning, the movie had earned favorable “certified fresh” rating of 97% at Rotten Tomatoes. The film fared slightly worse by the standards at MetaCritic, with a score of 72 (which still indicated “generally favorable” reviews from critics).

 “Late Night With the Devil” opened sixth at the box office over the weekend behind “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire ($45 million), “Dune: Part Two ($18 million), “Kung Fu Panda 4” ($17 million), “Immaculate” ($5.4 million) and “Arthur the King” ($4.4 million), per IMDb.

Still, Scott Shooman the head of the AMC Film Group — the parent company of IFC Films — told Deadline that the opening numbers for “Late Night With the Devil” were encouraging.

“’Late Night With The Devil’ continues to showcase that there is still potential for highly reviewed, intelligent auteur films in movie theaters across all genres,” Shooman said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NBC4 WCMH-TV.