A Vida Depois de Yang

This has to be one of THE slowest moving movies I've ever watched. Although it was a beautiful story and interesting it was painful to sit through. I actually had to watch it in several different segments at three different times just to get through it. Also it's very darkly filmed so be prepared to close all the shades in the room you're in.

An indie film set in the future from last year. Colin Farrell & Jodie Turner-Smith are raising their daughter w/the help of a robot which they bought refurbished. The parents begin to worry when Yang, Justin H. Min, starts to malfunction & what his potential absence will have on their daughter which prompts Farrell to venture out into the world to find out his background which includes visions of a girl, played by Haley Lu Richardson, who meant enough to him she's still in his memory banks. Taking a page out of other scifi outliers like Blade Runner, A. I. & even to some extent the Will Smith actioner I, Robot, this film's message of a robot achieving its own consciousness is lost in its fey, flowery delivery as it feels (which reading the head credits this film was based on a short...probably the best format for this), even at its short running time of 90 or so minutes, bloated by unnecessary visual deviations & flourishes making this at best a beautiful ad for a B & B & at worst a waste of my time. Also starring Sarita Choudhury & Ritchie Coster as robot merchants w/Clifton Collins as Farrell's neighbor.

"There's no something without nothing."

When Yang - a lifelike, artificially intelligent android - abruptly stops functioning, a father's quest to repair him eventually becomes one of existential introspection and contemplating his own life, as it passes him by. After Yang is Kogonada's second feature after Columbus. I haven't seen Columbus but it's become a must see in the indie feature selection from the past few years. Foreign to his style and skills, I found his work to be masterful. Firstly, the script, based on a short story, is incredibly thought provoking. It plays heavy on the ethics of life and technology leaving us to wonder if an A. I. is worth saving. Filled to the brim with beautiful moments, everything is bittersweet and sentimental. One of the big aspects is memories. Kogonada writes and execute this memories much like how our mind process them. Little things repeat and change to bring out the correct portrayal. At first it feels like your mind processed the scene wrong but quickly you'll pick up on that. Another thing I loved is the camera placement throughout. He has the vision of what we should be looking at specifically, even if it's not the focus of the scene, and it all flows together nicely. The cinematography is stunning, popping with life and great production design. The score is also really beautiful.

Colin Farrell has a difficult character to play. The complexity of managing a different persona from actual growing feelings is hard to convey with what the film deals with. There's a few scenes he nails perfectly. Hayley Lu Richardson does well in her smaller role. We slowly learn who she is and how she fits into this story. Once we find out the full story, it's emotional and profound. Justin H. Min as Yang only has a few scenes but his presence is felt throughout. Most of his dialogue is poetic and adds so much to his character. The film is never too on the nose or explains everything to the audience. We're piecing details and thoughts together just as much as they are. This is a slow burn. Sometimes the pacing falls flat within scenes. As everything progresses, it's hard not to be mesmerized by the topics and story as a whole. I really want to read the short story now. Though the film may end on a note that doesn't work for everyone, I think it ends at the perfect moment. The last few scenes are a knock out. I'm really pleased with After Yang and want to rewatch it again. Earnest and profound, it'll be hard to forget.

In what seems to be the near future, a married couple and their young daughter deal their "techno-sapien" android/nanny Yang ceasing to function. As the husband tries to get him (note, not "it") refurbished, he learns more about Yang's life, both with his family and the one before he met them. "Technos" like Yang are equipped with memory that allow them to record a few seconds each day, and in some of the film's finest moments, the husband gains access to these. It's touching to see what was notable to Yang, who is more human-like (or even Christ-like) than machine, and Kogonada explores what it means to be a conscious organism in a world where technology could possibly create consciousness.

Despite the premise, After Yang seems to deal more with death and the loss of a gentle person in one's life than it does with the traditional themes of robots in science fiction. It certainly doesn't pursue some of the more interesting angles, e.g. The privacy breach Yang represents. When the company "recycles" technos, you see, it has access to a massive amount of information about the family they were with. We see that Yang is warm and gentle, in direct contrast to specter of a high-tech Big Brother or the cool, emotionless tension we see in the parents, and it made me wonder whether it was possible to create organisms that are better than humans, and not the apocalyptic Terminator type devices seen elsewhere.

It's all a very interesting concept, but I'm not sure Kogonada did as much with it as he could have. He also moves this film along at too slow a pace, one bordering on pretentiousness. The wonderful dance sequence in the opening credits and Mitski's cover of Glide help breathe life into it, but not enough for me to truly love this film. Maybe more perspective from the little girl or mother, or maybe letting up on the brake to allow for more of development in the story would have done it for me. Worth seeing though.

So few of these hi-concept lo-budget sci-fi films succeed, it is important for both critics and viewers alike to honor those that pull it off. That said, to argue that the brilliance of the film lies in its ability to leave the viewer with weighty thoughts afterwards is to miss the joy and compassion of the film in real time. Not Marvel. Not even especially commercial. But, for what it is, flawless. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))