This film is part of Rentals
Columbus
A young librarian with a thing for Modernist architecture expands her horizons when a Korean lawyer (John Cho) comes to town, in this impeccable debut from acclaimed video artist kogonada.
Drama 2016 104 mins
Director: kogonada
Overview
After his lecturer father is taken ill, Jin (John Cho) heads to Columbus, Indiana, the modernist architecture capital of America. Jin encounters Casey (Haley Lu Richardson), a librarian. She’s a smart cookie brimming with ideas and potential in a town too small to contain them, but stymied by a co-dependent relationship with her mother. Their blossoming friendship is the foundation of this intelligent drama that considers the limits of what we owe to our families.
Those familiar with director kogonada’s video essay work on Ozu will not be surprised by his formal and thematic affinity with that master – every corridor is meticulously framed. Another influence is Hal Hartley, particularly in the hyper-articulate, off-kilter dialogue. Ultimately, the film offers a perspective entirely its own, making the case for the emotional power of architecture. This is stylish, intellectually ambitious cinema, with the added thrill of seeing Parker Posey speaking Korean.
infrequent strong languageRelated
Drama
Room at the Top
Drama 1958 117 mins Director: Jack Clayton
Jack Clayton directs this romantic, love-triangle drama featuring Simone Signoret in an Oscar-winning performance.
Mary Queen of Scots
Period drama 2018 124 mins Director: Josie Rourke
Saoirse Ronan is Mary Stuart, facing off against Margot Robbie's Elizabeth I in this striking, feminist take on 16th-century history.
Beautiful Boy
Drama 2018 121 mins Director: Felix Van Groeningen
Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet give blistering performances as a father and son in this gripping story of a family dealing with addiction over many years.
Where Hands Touch
Drama 2017 122 mins Director: Amma Asante
Amma Asante (Belle, A United Kingdom) presents this rites-of-passage story of a bi-racial teen struggling for survival in Nazi Germany.
Girl
Drama 2018 106 mins Director: Lukas Dhont
Lukas Dhont's breathtaking debut feature encompasses the heartache, courage, and punishing training of a ballerina transitioning in her teenage years.
Donbass
Drama 2018 121 mins Director: Sergei Loznitsa
This disturbing new black comedy from Sergei Loznitsa (In the Fog) examines the civil conflict in Ukraine through the prism of the absurd.
Festival Debuts
The Here After
Drama 2015 102 mins Director: Magnus von Horn
A teenager attempts to integrate back into society following a spell in prison, but the community is unwilling to forgive him.
A Date For Mad Mary
2016 83 mins Director: Darren Thornton
Dry, sarcastic, maddening Mary must find a date for her best friend’s wedding in this Irish feel-good hit for misfits everywhere.
Gente de bien
Drama 2014 86 mins Director: Franco Lolli
A ten-year-old is packed off to live with his down-at-heel father in this touching, exquisitely observed Colombian drama.
Lady Macbeth
Period drama 2016 89 mins Director: William Oldroyd
Florence Pugh shines in this exceptional British debut of a young wife's need for freedom, whatever the cost.
Difret
Drama 2013 99 mins Director: Zeresenay Berhane Mehari
A young Ethiopian woman faces the death penalty for killing the man who raped her until a brave lawyer decides to take on her case.
The Levelling
Drama 2016 84 mins Director: Hope Dickson Leach
Hope Dickson Leach's hugely impressive first feature about a middle class farming family’s crisis, set against the backdrop of the Somerset floods.
Featuring Haley Lu Richardson
The Edge of Seventeen
Comedy 2016 104 mins Director: Kelly Fremon
Kelly Fremon Craig’s coming-of-age comedy eschews quirkiness for genuine warmth, while boasting a hilarious supporting turn from Woody Harrelson.
New
My Death Is a Mockery
Crime 1952 69 mins Director: Tony Young
Hop aboard for a choppy Channel crossing with this bleak, bullet-spattered sea-smuggling crime drama.
Room at the Top
Drama 1958 117 mins Director: Jack Clayton
Jack Clayton directs this romantic, love-triangle drama featuring Simone Signoret in an Oscar-winning performance.
Mary Queen of Scots
Period drama 2018 124 mins Director: Josie Rourke
Saoirse Ronan is Mary Stuart, facing off against Margot Robbie's Elizabeth I in this striking, feminist take on 16th-century history.
Beautiful Boy
Drama 2018 121 mins Director: Felix Van Groeningen
Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet give blistering performances as a father and son in this gripping story of a family dealing with addiction over many years.
Colette
Biopic 2017 112 mins Director: Wash Westmoreland
This witty, Belle Époque-era biopic stars Keira Knightley and Dominic West as literary couple Colette and Willy, whose relationship rewrote social and gender rules.
The Raft
Documentary 2018 98 mins Director: Marcus Lindeen
Imagine Big Brother at sea, but with no evictions. Director Marcus Lindeen innovatively uncovers the human stories behind a 1970s social experiment, salaciously dubbed ‘The Sex Raft’.