Columbus
What he's offering is a critique of a critique. But in its place, he identifies a different kind of crisis. Not the crisis of attention, but the crisis of interest. See, to talk about attention is its own kind of distraction. Kids pay attention to things that interest them. The real question is what interests them? Or us? Are we losing interest in things that matter? Words on a page, for instance. Yeah, see, maybe that's not so important. What about everyday life? Are we losing interest in everyday life?
Columbus reminded me more than anything of The Garden of Words Highly recommended, btw. and Shinkai's other short films before he transitioned to massive and somewhat loud mainstream fare like your-name. This is a painterly, deliberate film — and at times it feels as if it's tipping its hand too much, showing you just how well-considered every single frame and shot is. I didn't really mind that, though, because it is well-considered, and pleasantly so.
Kogonada's strength here is more in aesthetics and visuals than script, sometimes to poor effect. The chemistry between John Cho and Haley Lu Richardson — the latter of whom I'd probably only ever seen in The White Lotus, and both of whom I found terrific in their roles overall — is easy and pleasant, albeit mannered, not unlike a Sofia Coppola production. But the inciting meet-cute feels just a touch too incredulous; I don't really sense that either of these people, so insular in their own ways, would readily strike up this kind of conversation, nor that their relationship would progress so quickly. The contrivance of the core plot feels at odds with everything else in the film.
Compare this with Paterson, where the time we spend in Paterson's world finds him already completely established. Casey, by contrast, is a creature of transition — very sweet and smart but unconvincingly so, since we spend a lot of time hearing it from other characters rather than witnessing it ourselves. Her character is that of a dream-like abstraction, idealized and faintly abstract and slightly transparent.
Still, these are reasons I didn't love this film, not reasons I didn't think it was very good. I'd recommend it to anyone, even if the central melodrama feels faintly contrived.