They still deserve to try to be understood.
The topic for today is:
Columbus Vs. Murakami
Director: Kogonada
Cinematographer: Elisha Christian
When a renowned architecture scholar falls suddenly ill during a speaking tour, his son Jin finds himself stranded in Columbus, Ind., a small Midwestern city celebrated for its many significant modernist buildings. Jin strikes up a friendship with Casey, a young architecture enthusiast who works at the local library. As their intimacy develops, Jin and Casey explore both the town and their own conflicted emotions.
(Summary provided by google- thx u the best)
Columbus shook me to my core. It cradled my artsy indie heart and gave it everything it could ever ask for plus things I didn't even know I wanted or needed. It was visually flawless, and the simple coming of age story was not stale or tired but a unique perspective that felt fresh. There is not a single shot that is not interesting. Each one is gorgeous and well executed, the colors are light and soft. Christian takes the background and brings them to the foreground seamlessly blending the two together. The architecture of the city is brought to such attention that it's presence is almost as grand as the two main characters. Taking buildings that people have walked past a hundreds of times and presenting them in a way that allows you to truly see them for the first time. Overall the story is mundane, we see a blip in these characters lives just at the right moment where they intersect. But the true beauty of this film is how the the surreal, dream like quality, the quiet simplicity of the whole thing comes together to create something bigger than all its parts. Leaving me breathless and unable to look away, or to stop thinking about it.
Now this is not actually 1V1 but yet just an expansion of a thought that I had over the weekend while talking about the film with Bobby. All of those things mentioned, the surreal, the softness, the visual beauty of a city you've lived in your whole life, are all things I experience every single time I dive into one of Murakami's novels. Specifically The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles and Norwegian Wood. Both of them wash me in the same feelings of sadness, hope, and beauty. Murakami has said that he does not outline the plots of his stories, rather he just sits down with an idea and allows it to write itself. What you are left with is loose and soft and organic. It feels real despite you knowing it is an act of fiction. I felt the same way with Columbus. As if the characters are alive, living out whatever lives are ahead of them and we get to look in and watch unfold for a moment.
The only way to truly see if I'm not spouting nonsense is to experience them yourself. Watch the movie (it's on Hulu), read Murakami, his story telling will change your life in at least one aspect or another. I know it did for me.
