Columbus

Loved this film. And have something interesting to say about it too! In Columbus, space is not space in the Cartesian or Euclidean sense but rather space as social, by the people who interact with it.  Space is purgatorial; the characters find themselves trapped physically in Columbus, but tied socially to Columbus; Casey to her mother, Jin to his father.  Space is also liminal for the characters; Casey is between stages in her life, she has left school but unsure how to move on. Jin is in between filial care in Columbus and work in Korea. And for a moment, Casey and Jin meet, in a liminal space, in a purgatory, in Columbus. Columbus is not just modernist architecture - it is as Jim’s father says: modernism with a soul. And what is the soul of a building if not the human aspect: the people, the conversations had, the emotions given, the moments shared. Jin says he believes architecture cannot heal. By the end of the film he is proved wrong. Through the lens of architecture - through beautiful symmetrical shots of buildings and structures, shots of mirrors, wide angles of buildings - something is healed. It may not be material or physical - Jim’s father or Casey’s mother - but it is social, the healing of the soul.