Film Companion Guide
How to Watch: Columbus (2017)
In Columbus, Indiana, a Korean-born man caring for his ailing father meets a young architecture enthusiast. Together they walk among modernist buildings and talk about what matters. Kogonada's debut is a film where architecture becomes the language of feeling.
Key Takeaways
Columbus teaches you to look at buildings the way you look at faces. Each building in the film corresponds to an emotional state. The symmetrical compositions are not cold — they are a form of visual calm. Watch for how Kogonada frames his characters within and against architecture, and how the buildings gradually become characters themselves.
What to Notice
The Symmetrical Compositions
Nearly every shot in Columbus is carefully composed with architectural precision. Lines converge, spaces balance, characters are placed within geometric frames. This visual order creates a feeling of calm that mirrors the meditative state slow cinema cultivates.
Architecture as Emotion
Casey (Haley Lu Richardson) says that architecture can produce an emotional response "that you cannot explain." The film demonstrates this through its own compositions. The Irwin Union Bank, the First Christian Church, the library — each building resonates with a different emotional frequency. Let yourself feel them.
The Conversations
Jin and Casey's conversations unfold slowly, with pauses and silences that most films would edit out. These pauses are where the real communication happens — in the space between words, characters reveal themselves.