After Yang

Here's a low-energy, easy-paced sci-fi poser of a film. Directed by Kogonada and adapted by him from a short story by Alexander Weinstein, After Yang sets up quite a few questions but doesn't quite get around to answering many of them. It's set in the future, though how far is hard to say, and it concerns the breakdown of a companion android called Yang (played by Justin H. Min). He (it?) was bought by Jake and Kyra (Colin Farrell and Jodie Turner-Smith) for their adopted Chinese daughter, Mika (Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja) to provide older brotherly care and cultural support. Incidentally, it's not exactly clear where it takes place, but I'm guessing the US somewhere. The film starts with a brief intro to their lifestyle, including a bizarre online dance contest for the whole family, during which, Yang malfunctions. 

What follows is a kind of dream-like investigation with Farrell as a soporific Sam Spade. He first attempts to get Yang fixed at a dodgy repair place (as Yang was bought second-hand, he doesn't fall under warranty), where he discovers a heretofore unknown memory bank. This hints at a darker turn and I won't give away what eventuates, only to say that it required something to kick it along at this point. 

Throughout proceedings, we are given ample ideas to chew, including privacy concerns (see memory bank); human loss and grief (even if the departed is synthetic); the reach of big business (Brothers & Sisters Inc. hold all the cards regarding companion AIs); the possibility of emotion in androids; cloning; and religion. Kyra has an interesting flashback conversation with Yang about human and synthetic 'programming'. When Yang quotes Lao Tzu's 'What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly', Kyra asks Yang if he thinks there's anything after the 'end'. He replies that he's not programmed to think about that and repeats her question back to her. Kyra says she thinks humans are probably programmed to think, but that it "maybe isn't in our best interests." Lots to unpack with this but the elliptical nature of the film leaves the wrapping on.

Farrell and Turner-Smith give fine performances, and Farrell in particular is becoming a really nuanced actor, choosing alternative roles (Lobster, Sacred Deer, The Batman, etc) that belie his looks. On the other hand, Tjandrawidjaja is too precocious and irritating, and Min is bland, but of course, there's a reason for that. The feel of the film reminded me of certain episodes of Black Mirror, with hints of the Blade Runner aesthetic, though not quite as stunning due to the presumably low-ish budget.

Some way though the film Jake asks Haley Lu Richardson's Ada - a clone and probable girlfriend of Yang - if Yang wanted to be more human, and she bridles, replying, "that's such a human thing to say." More development of these kind of threads would have added some weight to an otherwise comfortably allusive story. In saying all that, the film manages to maintain interest and leave the viewer with plenty of things to mull over. Job done.

After Yang opens at the Luna on April 28th.

See also:

Any excuse to mention Martin McDonagh's In Bruges (2008), also starring Farrell, but a film that shares some DNA with After Yang is the controversial, though fantastic, The Trouble With Being Born (2020), directed by Sandra Wollner.

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