Kogonada, previously recognized for his video essays and visible artwork, made his function debut with 2017’s “Columbus,” a visually beautiful two-hander that was met with widespread acclaim. His follow-up, “After Yang” — a Cannes-premiered sci-fi meditation — was additionally warmly acquired and additional cemented his popularity as a filmmaker with a fragile, contemplative contact.
That momentum, nonetheless, got here crashing down final 12 months with “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey,” a $60M time-travel romance starring Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell. The movie was savaged by critics and fizzled on the field workplace.
Kogonada rapidly regrouped, heading to Hong Kong to quietly shoot a a lot smaller venture titled “Zi.” The movie was supposed as a low-budget palette cleanser after the debacle of “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey.” The consequence? Admirable, but in addition baffling. It premiered at Sundance to combined evaluations.
All of this has now led Kogonada towards tv. He’s been tapped to exchange Ben Stiller as the first director for season three of the acclaimed “Severance,” set to direct most, if not all of the episodes.
The Apple TV+ collection follows Mark S. (Adam Scott), an worker of Lumon Industries who agrees to endure a controversial “severance” process by which his work reminiscences are surgically separated from his private ones. What follows is a wierd and unsettling exploration of identification, company management, and simply how a lot of ourselves we’re keen to give to our jobs.
Back in 2022, Stiller struck gold with the present’s first season — a dystopian, “WTF-did-I-just-watch” workplace drama with immaculate minimalist world-building. I wasn’t fairly as taken with the second season, although it nonetheless scored sturdy evaluations.
With Stiller now returning to options, Kogonada stepping in truly makes quite a bit of sense. His minimalist, contemplative filmmaking fashion — constructed round exact visible composition and stillness — appears like a pure match for the eerie, managed world of “Severance.”
