[리뷰] Between humans and robots, the memory device named “After Yang”

In Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, bounty hunter Rick Deckard asks, “Do androids dream too?” In , director Kogonada asks a different question. Do you also remember Android? The near future that envisions is a society where highly developed Techno Sapiens are universal. They are intelligent bodies that are spread in multi-racial and multi-cultural families and act as “second brothers and sisters” that awaken the heritages of countries around the world. Jake (Colin Farrell), who owns a tea shop, and Keira (Jodie Turnersmith), a business executive, also support their adopted Chinese daughter Mika (Malea Emma Chandrowjaya), a Chinese android Yang (Justin H. Min). With As the title of Alexander Weinstein’s original novel, the film slowly observes the consequences of the “farewell to the sheep” that suddenly reaches the family one day. As Jake travels between repair shops, he discovers that there is a hidden memory in the sheep’s heart, and the refurbished old sheep is yet another age. “I wish cars weren’t just acquaintances to me. I wish I had real memories. About place and time. Miss Android’s desires only come to light when he is no longer working.

Just like the one tested in Kogonada already reveals the visualistic aspect of the refinement of good weather and space through the framing in . Stillness, sleep and the fleeting vigor of everyday life are depicted in this film in a more detailed and seductive way. The choice to leave behind the metallic tendency of stagecraft or minimalism, which sci-fi films often rely on, also fits the narrative in a fluid way. The characters of wear natural dyed cotton fabrics and stroll through the afternoon grass and the dawn living room, and the sheep’s digital memory exploration journey is expressed as a dream of traveling to the Milky Way.

There are also serene ironies, like the scene where a sheep collapses immediately after a comically dynamic family dance scene. The fact that the deep undercurrent of daily life, which seems peaceful and lyrical, also flows with an ominous feeling, is an important sense that After Yang presents early. It’s also interesting work as a political metaphor for how future society will intelligently erase dystopian reality. Meanwhile, a robot that long remembers and mourns the humans who lost it often encounters unique editing techniques. Kogonada’s imagination of the human-machine memory method induces observation and exploration instead of immersion in multiple scenes where the same moment is repeated from different perspectives. The somewhat rough grammar that is possible because the director edited it himself is the definite personality that makes the afterimage of lasts a long time.

“Can I be honest? I’m doing well. Even if there is nothing at the end. (Android Yang’s thoughts on Lao Tzu’s saying: “It’s the end for the caterpillar, but the beginning for the butterfly.”)

CHECKPOINT

(2001)

Singer Lily Shushu, created by director Shunji Iwai, was revived 20 years later by techno sapiens wearing T-shirts honoring her in After Sheep. , a song the lonely boy Yuichi relied on to care for his soul, this time becomes a devious song that connects the sheep and the Mika siblings and comforts the lost. Following a fictional existence that emerged as part of the turn-of-the-century “Y2K Project” and seeped into the latest science fiction, the future of Kogonada sparks a distant nostalgia like never before.