Our Love is Not a (Science) Fiction: Kogonada’s "Zi" at Sundance

Out of the countless films premiering at this year's Sundance Film Festival, few have been more anticipated than Kogonada's Zi. Despite a jam-packed festival schedule, I was lucky enough to catch the premiere of Zi, the latest film from acclaimed Korean-American director, Kogonada, known for his previous projects like 2017's Columbus and 2020's After Yang. Over the course of the year, this mononymous director as solidified himself as one of the industry's most innovative and fascinating voices. But despite being familiar with his past work, I would end up leaving the premiere of Zi with much more complicated feelings that I thought.

Michelle Mao stars as the titular Zi, a concert violinist who finds herself coming undone after contracting a mysterious mental condition, causing her to catch glimpses of her future self. Eleanor, played by Haley Lu Richardson, finds Zi at her absolute lowest, and brings her to her ex-fiance, Min (Jin Ha), a neurologist who has been secretly keeping an eye on her. While Zi’s future sight (and the supernatural/sci-fi events that come with it) serve as more of a frame for the narrative than its main focus, what remains is an poignant drama about love, destiny, and the neon metropolis that is Hong Kong.  

Shot only a mere 3 months ago (October 2025), Zi defies expectations for such a quick turnaround. Kogonada and members of his team remarked during the Q&A that the filming process was very low-key. Without permits or assistance to shut down parts of the city, the film immerses the audience in the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong life. Even in scenes set late at night, you’ll often hear the sounds of far away car horns, catch a random pedestrian walking by, or spot a sanitation worker doing their rounds in the background. However, one possible consequence of this turnaround is what I felt were the inadequately explored sci-fi elements, which while featuring prominently in the beginning of the film, quickly take a backseat to the romantic storyline.

Zi’s future sight isn’t really future sight… or is it? The ending of the film leaves this question totally unanswered, and while I’ll be the first to say that unanswered questions are the essence of a good mystery, Zi’s lack of answers feels more like a dismissal of the question rather than an deliberate open end. Quite simply, the cause of Zi’s future sight does not matter to the plot, it acts more like a shuttle that brings you into the film, giving you a reason to care about the romantic drama between Zi, Eleanor, and Min. I can see plenty of other people enjoying this decision, but as a lover of high concept films, I found myself somewhat disappointed.

None of that is to say that Zi is a bad film. It was gorgeously shot, phenomenally acted, and the Ryuichi Sakamoto score is the cherry on top - serving as a beautiful tribute to one of Asia’s premier film composers (and a personal favorite of mine). Zi is, ultimately, an exercise in managed expectations. If you read the film’s description and find yourself primarily drawn to the concept, you may be let down, but if you let Zi take you where it needs to go, through narrow Hong Kong streets and across the bay, I think you may find yourself pleasantly surprised by what Kogonada’s latest outing has to offer.