@Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival
In order to fully appreciate this new movie directed by Kogonada, you must understand that Zi is so far the most personal and likely free project he has realized. After Columbus, After Yang and A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, the director has in fact decided to lose even more from a classic form of cinematic narration in order to develop his vision based mostly (but not only) on atmosphere, fascinations and relationships between the three main characters.
The plot that Zi is built on is basically a little more articulated than just a pitch: at the beginning we follow a young girl (Michelle Mao) who wanders to the streets of Hong Kong having visions of herself. When she meets another woman (Haley Lou Richardson) who quickly becomes her friend, everything changes. Together with another mysterious man (Jin Ha) they have to navigate through the amazing night lights of the city, waiting for something to happen and make them understand what’s going on with Zi and her condition.
Kogonada asks the audience to let themselves immerged in the visual, acoustic, emotional journey he has developed: Zi is a sort of stream-of-consciousness piece of art, where the perception is more important than the logic, where capturing the beauty of a gesture, of a light (or a shadow) or a sound is more important than understanding what’s going on. Once established that – and the movie does it from the very first sequence – you just need to enjoy this ride made of gentleness and emotion.
@Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival
We are not that far from the idea of cinema that Wong Kar-Wai has developed through admirable movies like Hong-Kong Express, Happy Together or In the Mood For Love: Koganada looks definitely in that direction, trying to create something maybe less curated aesthetically but more immediate, tangible, closer to the skin of his actors. The cast fully delivers this idea with simplicity and power: it is absolutely fascinating to experience acting together Michelle Mao and Haley Lou Richardson, creating two almost opposite body languages, different personalities that get along amazingly during the movie. Their chemistry is in the end what makes Zi a feature film that works on many levels.
Science-fiction has been exploited many times all over these decades in order to talk about issues related to our contemporary world. Instead of a cold, intellectual approach to this genre, Kogonada has chosen to build image after image, scene after scene, an emotional puzzle that in more than one moment results to be quite hypnotic. Zi is a movie where every aspect of its craft is connected in order to create a coherent result.
The editing by the same Kogonada and the cinematography by Benjamin Loeb (Dream Scenario, Pieces of a Woman) in particular work admirably together in order to endorse the director’s vision. Once again, it must be reiterated that such an enchanting result could not have been accomplished without the level of chemistry that the cast shows. Haley Lou Richardson delivers a sweet, energetic performance which in the end is the fuel that makes the engine of the movie fully work. Next to her Michelle Mao beautifully crafts the confusion and the fragility of her role. You can’t escape from rooting for these two young women, feeling the humanity and warmth of their friendship.
Zi is not a feature film that must be approached in an intellectual way. It is on the contrary an emotional, in some ways spiritual journey directed toward the research of connection between two lost souls. It talks about simple, primal feelings through a cinematic labyrinth that is totally worth experiencing.
@Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival
Rate: B
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