recommended

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

When movie got near to it's end you're probably happy, and sad, or a more complicated mixture of them. A true life story that you probably find yourself in the main character, not exactly the same of course, but who is not to have a hard life or at least had one and now stuck in middle of nowhere of it when you think probably to not move is the best move. Those times when you think "oh, it's better not to make it worse" and make yourself calm when there's a huge bad feelings inside. Oh, life is not so brutal so it gives you some hints and help you to find your way, to fight with your problems with just simply face them and not to run away from them. This movie is about facing your problems that blocks you from your loves in a very real and smooth way. better to give this movie a chance to show you how.

Columbus is something very unique given that it is filmed by a director that is clearly more comfortable as a still photographer. New director Kogonada has created a story about a Korean-American man played by John Cho who comes to Columbus, Indiana to see his ailing father. His father was an architect residing in a town famous for it's architecture history. The structure is the star, with every shot focusing on the buildings around the city. Jin (John Cho) meets an architecture fan named Casey who begins to connect with him, but not through the buildings so much as through their mutual human conflict. Jin is back to see his father, who he hasn't seen in at least a year, and with whom he has no bond. Casey struggles with her mom, a former and supposedly recovering meth addict. Both are forced to be with their parent, and it puts a hold on their lives. This brings them together and allows them to confide in each other. This is where the movie thrives, using incredible dialogue scenes between the two leads. Besides this, the cinematography is incredible. Every frame looks like an award winning photograph, taking great advantage of symmetry and lighting to create something that is above all else, a beautiful piece of artwork. It also pushes a few boundaries, showing a rare occasion of an asian lead that avoids stereotypes, and shows him in a strong and emotional light. John Cho is fantastic as Jin, giving his most honest performance. He breaks away from his comedic background, and follows a bit more in step to his Star Trek experience, and gives us a look at a man who is hurting that his father is dying, but more from the fact that he has no relationship with him. Rivaling his performance, Haley Lu Richardson gives her best performance to date, and showing she has real potential to lead in the future. Columbus is a rare film that slipped through the notice of the public, but is certainly something anyone should see, especially those interested in the art of architecture.

The quiet indie drama "Columbus" won't win over many mainstream moviegoers, but cinema academic-turned-filmmaker Kogonada has crafted a visually immaculate feature debut that can be compared to little else.As artistically distinctive as the film may be, the story will feel familiar: A man named Jin (John Cho) ends up in the rural town of Columbus, Indiana when his father goes into a coma and meets a young woman named Casey (Haley Lu Richardson) unable to uproot herself from this modern architecture mecca. Their collision of perspectives as they tour her favorite buildings and learn about each other's challenges and hopes makes up the reflective heart of the narrative.Yet there's a third obvious character in this story and that's Columbus. Not its people or culture, but its structures. Kogonada makes the presence of this setting palpable in most every shot. As we follow Jin and Casey from location to location, even the ones not designed by skilled architects, we're given time to absorb their surroundings, which may make us feel something that influences our perspective on the story. As the characters take in these thoughtfully designed structures, so do we. Imagine watching a play in an art museum - that's the best way to describe the dual artistic nature of "Columbus."The choices Kogonada and cinematographer Elisha Christian make with the camera and lighting prove to be everything in this film. The calculation, symmetry and blocking show a meticulous amount of thought, detail and planning. Every shot is its own portrait, as though the film is a 100-minute contemporary art exhibition. Some portraits will move you more than others. Plus, there's the additional layer of how that portrait influences not just the viewer's perception, but the story unfolding. Kogonada doesn't care much for plot specifics, and to a degree that fences us off from these characters because we can only invest so deeply in their personal conflicts, but the portraits of Jin and especially Casey are extensive enough that we have plenty to observe and react to in the film. Richardson's performance stands out the most in the way she continues to wrestle with her guarded nature and self-prescribed future and begins to lose a grip on her emotional control.Foremost, "Columbus" is a reflective viewing experience. With almost no film score, we're not meant to get enthralled by the film so much as bring our attention to it and experience it in this visual, contemplative way. It requires an appreciation for the craft of creating a frame to be sure, but it's good enough that it might make some new film appreciation "students" out of more casual indie film fans.~Steven CThanks for reading! Visit Movie Muse Reviews for more

Proper art has the quality of 'stasis' - it stills the heart of the viewer into a state of aesthetic arrest The supreme quality of beauty in an art is appreciated by the mind when it is arrested by the wholeness and fascinated by its harmony in the silent stasis of esthetic pleasure.To be aware of such a work of art is a spiritual experience.Joyce's definition of proper art and beauty is apt to describe this film.A Korean man finds himself in Columbus,Indiana to be with his architect father who has suddenly passed into coma.A local girl,an architectural nerd,strikes friendship with him.The man feels duty-bound to stay in town until his father recovers because he has no choice.The girl,who has offers to study and intern outside the town,doesn't want to leave because she is concerned about her mother.Lives are in statis,something's gotta give.The duo discuss their relationships,career and architecture as the girl takes the man around various modernist architectural sites in Columbus.They share cigarettes and advice,and possibly some understanding about life.If the Fountainhead was Beethovan's Symphony #5 on architecture,Columbus is Fur Elise.Both the protagonists are dilettantes of architecture,the girl having taken to it as a means of catharsis,and the guy quite reluctantly as a matter of legacy.The assymetric can still be balanced in buildings,and probably that is the corollary that the director draws for life.This is Kogonada's first directorial venture.Just yesterday I was overwhelmed while watching Bong Joon-ho's OKJA.Chan woo-park and Kim Ki-duk have churned out many such aesthetically pleasing films in their career.Columbus is a film that will stay with me for long.I wonder if I shud call this a coming-of-age drama.This is not even a conventional romance.There is a lot of love ,but this is love for art's sake and more appropriately,art for love's sake.