When a lifelike android breaks down, its owner discovers a memory bank
detailing the life it was secretly leading.
Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Kogonada
Starring: Colin Farrell, Jodie Turner-Smith, Justin H. Min, Malea Emma
Tjandrawidjaja, Haley Lu Richardson
One of the most insightful truths I've ever heard came courtesy not of
an artist or a philosopher, but from a footballer. While being
interviewed on TV, former soccer player turned manager Mick McCarthy was
asked the clichéd question of which dead people he would invite to
dinner. One of them was his mother, as he claimed he never knew her.
"Oh, did she pass away when you were a child?" the interviewer asked, to
which McCarthy replied that she had lived to a fine age, but "we never
really get to know our mothers, do we?"
It's only when you lose a loved one that you understand how little you
knew them. At their funerals you get to meet people who were a major
part of their lives, but whom you had never known about, forgotten
childhood friends, former work colleagues, maybe even illicit lovers who
simply couldn't not say goodbye. What if there was a way to access your
late loved ones' most cherished memories? Would you like to see what was
important to them, or would it feel intrusive? And what if you didn't
like what you saw?
Adapting a short story by Alexander Weinstein, writer/director
Kogonada examines these questions through the prism of science
fiction. Like his debut feature,
Columbus, it's a film about finding the soul in objects, in this case an
android, or a "techno-sapien" as they're known in the near future world
of the film.
After adopting Mika (Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja), an infant girl
from China, Jake (Colin Farrell) and Kyra (Jodie Turner-Smith) decide to invest in a techno-sapien that will serve as part big
brother, part educator. Wishing their daughter to remain in touch with
her roots, they select a Chinese model. Sporting a Spock haircut, Yang
(Justin H. Min) has the appearance of a teenage boy but has been
programmed with a wealth of information on the history and culture of
China. Mika sees him as more of a sibling than an educator/babysitter,
and Jake and Kyra even view him as part of the family in the way you
might a pet dog or cat.
Tragedy strikes when Yang shuts down one day. As he was bought second
hand, there is no warranty in place, meaning there's no affordable way
to have him repaired through the official channels. Following the advice
of his neighbour (Clifton Collins Jr), Jake takes the inanimate
Yang to Russ (Ritchie Coster) a backstreet repairman who is
unable to fix Yang. While taking Yang apart, Russ does come across a
memory bank that seems to have been used to store select memories of
Yang's experiences. Jake takes the bank home and views its contents.
Among the heartwarming images of family gatherings and the delights of
nature, Jake is surprised by the constant appearance of a young woman
(Haley Lu Richardson) who seems for all the world to have been
Yang's romantic partner.
In what feels like a sci-fi riff on Nanni Moretti's classic exploration
of grief
The Son's Room, Jake tracks down the girl, who turns out to be a clone named Ada.
With Ada as his guide, he comes to learn of the secret life, or rather
lives, Yang was engaged in. He also has to deal with the ethics of an
offer from a museum to put Yang's memories on display. And of course
there's the small matter of how he can break the news to Mika that Yang
can't be revived.
As with Columbus, Kogonada's latest film is as tender as a tear-stained tissue, a mood
exemplified by Farrell's magnificently understated performance. Rarely
verbalising his feelings, every muscle in Farrell's face is weighed down
by the ethical balancing act he's asked to perform. Richardson is
excellent as a human who isn't quite human, her cloned nature part of
the film's obsession with identity and belonging which also takes in
Mika and Yang's cultural bonding. A lovely moment sees Yang reassure
Mika that whatever school bullies might say, she is part of Jake and
Kyra's family, using the metaphor of the ancient Chinese practice of
grafting a limb from one tree onto another to create a hybrid.
In a flashback we see Jake have a conversation with Yang in which he
discusses his love of tea with the android. Jake claims to have been
inspired by the Werner Herzog documentary All in This Tea, and Yang professes an interest in seeing the film. "Maybe we can
watch it some time," Jake promises. When we cut back to the present
Jake, the look on Farrell's face tells us he probably never did sit down
with Yang to watch the film. If anyone expresses a desire to sit down
and watch After Yang with you, don’t put it off.
