By Hipolito Navarrete, Managing Editor

“Columbus” is gentle and heavy, conscientious and bruising. It is a film that reminds us that we are all the same and although we do have cultural and physical differences our souls are the ones that will find those that we need to help us heal when we are open and vulnerable to those moments and encounters.

The two characters, Jin (John Cho), and Casey (Haley Lu Richardson), seem like they would be as different as their looks pretend to be, but their human needs and frailties bring them together. Their respective challenges with their parents, the trauma that they have both experienced at the hands of those that they would expect to care for them is a heavy burden and spiritual injuries that they both help each other acknowledge and heal.

Jin and Casey are two drifting souls that are forced to keep grounded by the chain of their pain, and freed by each other’s tenderness and innocent care as they recognize each other in themselves. This film gives us the opportunity to absorb moments that other wise would be too heavy to understand. The compassion shared on the screen seeps to the audience as the pace of the films gives us time to recognize and feel those moments that are universal and we have experienced.

It is no surprise that filmmaker Chris Weitz would be the champion of this story. His past stories such as “A Better Life,” is a film that also deals with the complex relationship between a son and his father, something we can all connect because it can be the most difficult relationship we all have.

“Columbus” is a riveting, entertaining, dark film. It explores the loneliness we experience in our lives through those that are most important to us. It also brings us relief by reminding us that we can be each other’s companion, and each other’s salvation.