"The Korean-American director Kogonada took a startling turn for the sentimental last year with the hopelessly syrupy Colin Farrell-Margot Robbie studio romance A Big Bold Beautiful Journey. It was one of the bigger disappointments of 2025, especially when seen against the filmmaker's previous features, which were models of independent-minded austerity, all subdued emotions and subtle compositions. With his latest, Zi, playing in Sundance's Next section, it feels as if Kogonada has finally unleashed all his suppressed formalist energy."
"It plays like a travelogue of and a tribute to Hong Kong, with stolen shots of the city's streets and markets and parks and trains, shaky images whose rough, mismatched qualities speak to the transitory nature of the characters. The extremely thin story follows Zi (Michelle Mao), a concert violinist wandering Hong Kong with an uncertain sense of where she is."
"A neurological condition, which may or may not be the result of a brain tumor, has her seeing visions of herself as well as indeterminate flashes of certain moments that could be from her past or her future. She explains some part of this to Elle (Haley Lu Richardson, who had her breakout performance in the director's 2017 debut feature Columbus), an American stranger sporting a spectacularly bad wig who shows some concern for her."
Zi is a wisp of a film that functions as a travelogue and tribute to Hong Kong, with stolen shots of streets, markets, parks and trains rendered in shaky, mismatched images. The narrative follows Zi (Michelle Mao), a concert violinist wandering the city with uncertain bearings while a possible neurological condition produces visions of herself and indeterminate flashes that could be from her past or future. Elle (Haley Lu Richardson), an American stranger, shows concern, and Min (Jin Ha) watches, somehow connected to both women. The production reportedly lasted three weeks. The film's formalist energy and atmosphere are strong but it falters in conventional character development and incident.
Read at Vulture
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]