Kogonada Makes an Impressive Debut Effort As A Writer/Director With Columbus

You'd be surprised by what topics can help connect people. Sometimes a common interest in the most unusual things can help unite strangers. That's part of the appeal of all those fan conventions centered around niche interests, a way for people to amalgamate around what they love. For the lead characters of Columbus, it's architecture found around Columbus, Indiana that manages to bring these two strangers together during pivotal moments in their lives. Another person may just see assorted buildings in a city in Indiana, but for these two human beings, these buildings offer a chance for some much-needed human connections during tumultuous periods in their lives.

Bet On The Actors Excelling And The Camerawork Underwhelming In Molly's Game

Aaron Sorkin has been writing movies and TV shows for 26 years now and somehow, in that entire period of time, he's never directed anything before his 2017 feature film Molly's Game. This is especially regarding his TV work, the guy was the creator of four different TV shows, one of which (The West Wing) ran for over 150 episodes, and he never once directed an episode of any of these programs despite frequently writing the scripts for individual episodes. Taking all of that into consideration, it's utterly shocking he's taken this long to get behind the camera but he's done just that with the motion picture Molly's Game.

A Father And Child Reunion Is More Than A Motion Away In Late Spring

Sight & Sound Voyage Entry #10
Placement On Sight & Sound 50 Best Movies List: #15

Both Late Spring and Tokyo Story are the first Yasujiro Ozu movies I've ever seen, and if they're any indication, the concepts of family and mortality loom large in his productions. Ozu seems quite fascinated at contemplating how the finite time we have on this Earth impacts the way we interact with our loved ones, especially since the realization of us all having only so much time to live is likely to be more prevalent on the minds of older individuals compared to their younger relatives. Whereas Tokyo Story was about coming to terms with death as it occurs, the story of Late Spring is more concerned with preparing for that kind of possibility.

Now Here's A Little (Tokyo) Story, All About How My Life Got Flipped, Turned Upside Down...

It's always interesting to watch a piece of work from a famous director for the first time without any preconceived notions about the director in question. Oh, I had heard of legendary director Yasujiro Ozu plenty of times over the years, but the idiosyncracies of his work were an utter mystery to me. Tokyo Story would be my first ever glimpse into what kind of cinema Ozu was capable of crafting. As it turns out, it's quite a different, slower-paced piece of filmmaking that didn't work 100% of the time for me personally, but even in its weakest moments it doesn't bog down the strong acting and fascinating themes of Tokyo Story.