After Yang

The source is Alexander Weinstein's short story Saying Goodbye to Yang. Kogonada made one major addition in adapting it, and the film rests on that addition: in the story Yang has no memory bank and the only person remembering is the father. In the film, the memories Yang recorded are found, and they become the spine of the story. In the near future, a family's adopted Chinese daughter has an android, Yang, bought to teach her about Asian culture. When Yang breaks down, the father, Jake, tries to get him repaired, gains access to the memory module and begins watching the footage Yang chose to keep. The moments he selected are not the expected kind. Colin Farrell plays Jake, Jodie Turner-Smith his wife and Justin H. Min plays Yang. It premiered at Cannes in Un Certain Regard in July 2021, won the Alfred P. Sloan prize at Sundance in 2022, and was released simultaneously in cinemas and on Showtime on 4 March 2022. Who it is for: viewers who like quiet films that treat science fiction as a question of grief and memory rather than spectacle. Who it is not for: anyone wanting incident. There is almost no conflict, the pace is very low, and most of its questions are left open.