Zi, which premiered Saturday at the Sundance Film Festival, is a gentle, spiritually nourishing film. It suits the trademark sensitivity of writer/director Kogonada.
Along the way Elle (Haley Lu Richardson) sees Zi struggling and offers to help. They spend the day and night in Hong Kong together, eventually joined by Elle's ex-fiance Min (Jin Ha).
The overall theme of Zi is simply the kindness of strangers. It is inspiring to be reminded that one can make a difference in anyone's life just by caring, and that we are all worthy of receiving that care, too.
Small moments represent the beautiful connections between people. Elle likes to record the sounds of Hong Kong, so just seeing her smile recording Zi clicking a pair of chopsticks has a magnitude of joy inversely proportional to the minimal demands of the chopsticks.
Kogonada filmed the actors on live locations on which they did not have the resources to close down streets or sidewalks. It gives the film a hypnotic quality as the characters navigate a real world, lingering and focusing when it won't compromise the shot.Towards the end of the night, the empty streets reflect the loneliness of the characters. That they connect fills those streets with warmth.
Min and Elle have unresolved relationship issues too. Both characters handle those with compassion too, honest about their longing but forgiving of each other's mistakes.
However a viewer interprets it, what is not ambiguous is the kindness. Kindness is nonnegotiable and Zi is a powerful film about the importance of loving strangers, new friends and people from your past.
Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.
