In what seems to be the near future, a married couple and their young daughter deal their "techno-sapien" android/nanny Yang ceasing to function. As the husband tries to get him (note, not "it") refurbished, he learns more about Yang's life, both with his family and the one before he met them. "Technos" like Yang are equipped with memory that allow them to record a few seconds each day, and in some of the film's finest moments, the husband gains access to these. It's touching to see what was notable to Yang, who is more human-like (or even Christ-like) than machine, and Kogonada explores what it means to be a conscious organism in a world where technology could possibly create consciousness.
Despite the premise, After Yang seems to deal more with death and the loss of a gentle person in one's life than it does with the traditional themes of robots in science fiction. It certainly doesn't pursue some of the more interesting angles, e.g. The privacy breach Yang represents. When the company "recycles" technos, you see, it has access to a massive amount of information about the family they were with. We see that Yang is warm and gentle, in direct contrast to specter of a high-tech Big Brother or the cool, emotionless tension we see in the parents, and it made me wonder whether it was possible to create organisms that are better than humans, and not the apocalyptic Terminator type devices seen elsewhere.
It's all a very interesting concept, but I'm not sure Kogonada did as much with it as he could have. He also moves this film along at too slow a pace, one bordering on pretentiousness. The wonderful dance sequence in the opening credits and Mitski's cover of Glide help breathe life into it, but not enough for me to truly love this film. Maybe more perspective from the little girl or mother, or maybe letting up on the brake to allow for more of development in the story would have done it for me. Worth seeing though.
