After Yang

After Yang

Starring Colin Farrell, Jodie Turner-Smith, Justin H. Min, Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja

Directed by Kogonada

Films dealing with grief and death can be a comfort for people who are experiencing these raw emotions in real life, or it can be a detriment in that they feel totally faked to try to force an emotion out of the viewer. Very rarely is there a film that deals with grief and death that doesn't elicit either response from the viewer, but rather serves in asking important philosophical questions about the total existence of life, what it means to be human, and what we feel is really important in our very quick, short lives. "After Yang" is one such film - delivering these questions in a way that's wholly organic and applicable for the here-and-now, even though the film itself takes place decades in the future.

In this future, there's artificial intelligence known as "technosapiens" who have been created to assist families with household chores, learn new habits, teach their children, and even serve as a member of the family. That is how Yang (Justin H. Min) is seen by the Fleming family - as family. He's the bigger brother to Mika (Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja) who was adopted by Jake (Colin Farrell) and Kyra (Jodie Turner-Smith), and Yang introduces her to her Asian culture and heritage in a way that Jake and Kyra can't. He's been an intrical part of the family for years, but suddenly Yang shuts off, and Jake can't get him back online again. Having purchased him second-hand, he can't get Yang fixed, leading him to an underground fixer who removes Yang's memory bank thinking it's a spy camera, and Jake is able to see all the recorded memories Yang kept in his memory bank - along with some surprising memories Jake never knew about consisting of the family before the Flemings bought Yang, and a possible previous love interest which makes Jake wonder, "can an artificial intelligence feel love?"

Director Kogonada manages to find the humanity in a futuristic sci-fi drama, and by effortlessly blending family dynamics with dreamy flashbacks and muted color saturation, creates a film that's sneaky in how it invades your thoughts, leaving you thinking about it long after it ends. On the surface it looks like another family drama dealing with the death of a family loved one, but it's much more of a celebration of Yang's life rather than talks about how they're going to miss him (even though those moments are there). It's reliving his past memories and enjoying the life he had, and the people he touched along the way - and those who possibly touched him as well.

Colin Farrell has had an amazing track record when it comes to the smaller, independent films like "The Lobster" and "The Killing of a Sacred Deer," and "After Yang" is no exception. Sure, he can don the prosthetics and makeup to play the villain Penguin, but he can also shed all that exterior stuff and expose himself in a more deeper way, such as with "After Yang." He goes through the film thinking he can find a way to fix Yang, but as each outlet turns up nothing, he resolves to the fact that they'll be losing Yang, and by exploring his memories he learns what a rich, full life Yang managed to live - a life that he didn't even know about.

When Jake goes through Yang's memories, it's surprising and touching seeing what memories Yang chose to keep in his memory bank - nature, small moments with Mika, staring at himself in the mirror, along with memories with his previous family and a mysterious woman who might've opened his artificial heart to feel real love. While most of us remember the biggest moments of our lives - getting married, having children, and the like - Yang chooses to remember the small things in his life, and by doing so unleashes their potential into being things more meaningful: when did we remember our last nature walk, our drive to work, our own image? To Yang, these mundane events were most meaningful to him, and proves that life isn't about going for that next "big memory," but rather remembering the little moments and how they impact our lives. It's deeply introspective and touching, especially coming from the eyes of an artificial intelligence being.

Despite the futuristic background and the concept, "After Yang" pushes the thoughts and emotions of death and grief in a way that's really tailored for today's lost, crazy, and unpredictable world. Not just the insurmountable amount of lives lost in the last two years, but also how we live in this new world that's been created because of it - the violence, the uncertainty, the death of our innocence that we didn't know we had - so a film like this allows us to open up and relive our most precious memories, sharing them with the world in the hopes that we can craft something better for the future than the world we live in today.

The Score: A+