I had this professor who used to go on and on about the idiocy of video games. He talked about his son played video games for hours and hours, but one time when he tried playing with him, he found it completely dull after just a few minutes. Now, if this was reversed and the son was talking about how his dad would read for hours and he once tried reading with him, but he found it boring after a few minutes, we would accuse the son of having a short attention span, right, but why don’t we accuse the professor as having a short attention span?
Year Released: 2017
Director: Kogonada
Cast: John Cho, Haley Lu Richard, Parker Posey, Michelle Forbes, and Rory Culkin
For those that don’t know, I work part-time at a cinema, and following my shift, I go to catch the bus home (I can drive, I just don’t like the stress), and recently I’ve been getting into watching film clips on Instagram in that time, and one such clip intrigued me with its dialogue.
It was specifically a scene where Rory Culkin and Haley Lu Richardson are debating about morally valid ways of engagement with video games, and upon reading the reviews of the film, I became highly interested in giving it a watch.
Haley Lu Richardson is a young actress who has grabbed my attention with the limited movies I’ve seen her in, and I believe she’s one of the most under-utilised and underrated under-30 talents going. Not only is she talented, but she is very selective about what she does, and often, it works.
So, hopefully “Columbus” lives up to the hype I’m giving it.
Plot
Casey (Richardson) wants to get a full-time job, but for the ones she truly wants, she is told that to do so she needs a Masters degree, something which isn’t even on her radar until that point. She also doesn’t particularly want to leave her hometown of Columbus, and more importantly, her mother, something which many around her find baffling.
One day she meets Jin (Cho), the son of an esteemed professor, who has ongoing health issues. The two start a friendship, with Casey keen to highlight the beauty of the local architecture to Jin. Meanwhile, at home, she soon starts feeling her mother (Forbes) being increasingly absent.
So, worth a watch?
“Columbus” is one of those movies that didn’t get a cinema release in the UK, and I can definitely see why. It’s not your usual cinema fare, and in some ways that is a good thing, but in others, not so much.
The pacing is slow, probably too slow for most of the modern audience, and it’s a film that takes its time delicately trying to develop the characters through dialogue, and facial expressions. This is helped by some exceptional acting throughout.
“Columbus” features some of the best cinematography I’ve ever seen in a movie. Everything is framed intricately, with exceptional lighting throughout. You can get distracted from this throughout the conversations about the beauty of architecture, and the developing relationships, almost as if you’re in a trance.
That being said, at times “Columbus” feels every minute of it’s 104-minute run time. Whilst some of the conversations put you in an almost trance-like state, the rest can border on being a bit tedious.
“Columbus” is a beautiful movie, with some of the best genuine-feeling dialogue I’ve heard, but the problem is that is just isn’t gripping. It’s a film that I won’t remember within a matter of days, and that’s never a good thing.
For all of the positives I have to say about the film, it not being gripping or particularly memorable probably outweighs them all, and whilst I wouldn’t call it a disappointment (compared to the reviews I’d seen), but certainly wasn’t up to the hype.
Summary
A mixed bag really, with some beautiful cinematography and top-notch acting, but all the admittedly good monologues about the architecture distract you from that the film isn’t that gripping.
“Columbus” is a film that I will struggle to remember anything from, and despite it having a lot of positive features, I can’t justify giving it an approved stamp.
Should you wish to watch “Columbus”, it is available on Amazon Prime.
Sorry, never heard of it! 