After Yang (2021)

When his young daughter's (Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja) android brother (Justin H. Min) malfunctions, her father (Colin Farrell) searches for a way to repair him. In the process, he discovers what he has been missing in his life. Based on the short story SAYING GOODBYE TO YANG by Alexander Weinstein and directed by video essayist Kogonada in his second feature film. Set in a futuristic society, Kogonada's film examines the inability to connect in a technological civilization. It's the kind of movie where while I admired its intentions and its complex and often existential questioning, I wished I liked it more than I did. There are some incredibly moving moments in the movie but overall, Kogonada's forlorn pacing (there were times I thought the picture had frozen on the copy I was watching) makes the film seem much longer than its 90 minutes. The morose score by Aska Matsumiya and Ryuichi Sakamoto only adds to the lugubriousness of it all. Still, it's a creative piece of cinema and the acting is good. It's a film I definitely want to see again and perhaps glean more insights. With Jodie Turner Smith, Haley Lu Richardson and Sarita Choudhury.