After Yang

The kind of sci-fi film that can easily be labeled as a thinking person’s sci-fi, After Yang is a futuristic, emotionally tender sci-fi saga that merges innovative technology of the future with an emotionally genuine story about grief, that involves a family and the decay of their robotic song. In his sophomore film, writer and director Kogonada adapts the sci-fi short story titled Saying Goodbye to Yang by Alexander Weinstein with artfulness and grace, while Colin Farrell shines in his most empathetic performance yet.

After Yang is set in the near future, and it’s one of those rare sci-fi films that’s more in the vein of Spike Jonze’s Her, where the future doesn’t feel so bleak or dystopian. In fact, drawing on the novel, Kogonada creates a world in which humans put aside prejudices about technology, where man and machine can coexist, and where machines can clone themselves into humans, even becoming members of a family or companions to others. Kogaonada’s world building also shows a very clean planet or environment that appears to be free of pollution, poverty, and other forms of misery. It’s a world that appears to be more inclusive and diverse, and it’s a world where technological advancements have led to driverless automobiles, humanoids, and elegant architecture and decor. It’s also a world where the western world now feels more like East Asian countries, where decor, interior design, and wardrobe are more Eastern.

In the yarn, one can purchase a humanoid in case your child wants a sibling, in which case they become great friends, and Yang is also a mentor–but what happens if the humanoid begins to erode, and it moves past its warranty? Kogonda, whose debut feature film Columbus was a highly involving and visually impressive study about human connection, continues his humanism with After Yang. In his first film, you can sense he was a meticulous filmmaker who was fascinated with architecture, buildings, and the human condition. These sensibilities certainly reemerge once again with After Yang, though more deliberately placed and even more somber than Columbus, After Yang asks a lot of questions about what it means to be human. Thematically, the film on many levels’ echoes Blade Runner, The Final Cut, and Steven Spielberg’s 2001 exceptional sci-fi classic A.I. Artificial Intelligence, which also challenged the viewers’ perceptions of what it means to be human, and how the human experience can potentially be more universal than we realize. Just as Spielberg explored, Kogonada ponders whether artificial life can possibly hold human feelings and the possibilities of how they might even make an impact on others.

The film stars Colin Farrell, who’s already having quite a year. He currently plays Penguin, also known as Oswald Cobblepot, in Matt Reeve’s exceptional The Batman, which is a very menacing and riveting performance. Contrary to his performance in The Batman, Farell is very vulnerable, and he delivers one of his most sincere performances of his career. The film focuses on Jake (Farrel) and his wife, Kyra (Jodie Turner-Smith), who are a very loving married couple who have an adopted Chinese daughter named Mika (Malea Emma Tjandrawidga). They also have a recycled robot referred to as a “technospain”) named Yang (Justin H. Min), who is the older brother and son of Mika. He also serves as a wise mentor who gives Mika a lot of cultural insight on her heritage, as Yang was a robot built in Asia.

Once Yang begins to malfunction, he begins to erode from the rust and shuts down, Jake ends up taking him for a diagnosis where he remains defective. While in repair, Jake takes a memory cube out of Yang’s memory drive and pages through them to view some of Yang’s memories. While inside the memory bank, Jake is able to view Yang’s most affecting memories, which involve a mysterious young woman named Ada (Haley Lu Richardson).

Jake is able to view these memories through some advanced sunglasses that are like a computer monitor, where Jake can live through Yang’s memories through his perspective. It’s there where Jake realizes Yang was able to endure human experiences and emotions through Ada, and it’s a possibility that the emotional toll that he felt with Ada could have led to his robotic demise, which allows Jake to gain a further understanding of the human condition.

In essence, After Yang is a successful modernized spin on a story we have seen before. Nonetheless, Koganda incorporates themes of identity, race, and how certain emotional truths transcend artifice and the natural. Unraveled with visual poetry and many beautiful montages of Malickian nature shots, After Yang is exquisitely crafted with a lot of striking compositions and decor. There isn’t one shot in this luminous film that isn’t meticulous or stunning by cinematographer Benjamin Loeb.

While the film isn’t quite as successful on a narrative or storytelling level as it is on a visual level, After Yang does hit a lot of the same narrative beats and dramatic notes that prevent it from igniting on a fully engaging level. Ada’s character feels slightly underwritten, even though she does unlock some mystery and provide some insights to Yang on what it means to be human, allowing Jake to see him more as a human. Despite some of the film’s shortcomings, some of the other characters are underwritten as well, especially Kyra, who isn’t given quite as much depth as she could have been. Regardless, there are a lot of aspects where After Yang does work. Thanks mainly to his conceptual world building and affecting performances, there is a tenderness to the film that complements some of the film’s missteps. Ultimately, After Yang is a visually striking, emotionally moving experience that has first-rate cinematography, production design, and an impressive score by Ryuichi Sakamoto, but the film largely triumphs because of Farrell, a top-notch actor who has never been so sincere or vulnerable.