The year of Colin Farrell began with this gentle science-fiction film about a family dealing with the breakdown of its robot, a sort of artificial big brother (the titular Yang, played by Justin H. Min) who was acquired by the parents to give their adopted Chinese daughter a connection to her heritage. (Farrell plays the dad.) While trying to repair Yang, they discover a recording of his memories, and through it, they learn about his past lives. The film taps into a lot of themes that are common to the memory-movie genre: it’s got a bit of The Final Cut (in which people’s memories are recorded and watched by other people), a bit of After Life (in which isolated moments are preserved, free of context, and repeated on a loop), flashbacks that hint at the difference between taking photographs and committing things to memory, and flashbacks that play scenes from multiple perspectives simultaneously, with subtle differences that suggest the fuzziness or malleability of memory. Inevitably, the question of who and what we remember – and how we remember them – also ties into topics like mortality and the afterlife (or the lack thereof). Directed by video essayist turned filmmaker Kogonada (2017’s Columbus), the film is also a thoughtful comment on the increasingly complicated ways that commerce, technology, identity, and social connection overlap in our lives. — Peter T. Chattaway (2022)
Arts & Faith Lists:
2022 Arts & Faith Ecumenical Jury — #2