Though After Yang most easily falls under the genre category of sci-fi movie, this isn’t your Star Trek or Star Wars kind of sci-fi. Instead, this new movie from director Kogonada and starring Colin Farrell will take an intimate and personal look into a well-known sci-fi angle, artificial intelligence.
While After Yang will be making its debut to general movie fans in the coming weeks, the movie has already started to generate some buzz and acclaim from playing the festival circuit and is likely to be one of the more anticipated indie movies of 2022.
Here is everything we know about After Yang.
'After Yang' release date
After Yang is set to premiere on March 4, with the option to both see it in movie theaters and stream it online.
After Yang is expected to get a limited release in U.S. movie theaters on March 4 (how many theaters and where exactly isn’t known just yet). Also on March 4, it will be available to stream online for Showtime subscribers.
There does not appear to be a U.K. release date for After Yang right now, as the only international market with a general audience release date, per IMDb, is the Netherlands on April 14.
'After Yang' plot
After Yang is based on a short story by Alexander Weinstein, Saying Goodbye to Yang, which was published as part of the author’s collection of short stories in the 2016 book Children of the New World.
The official plot from production company A24 reads:
“When his young daughter's beloved companion — an android named Yang — malfunctions, Jake searches for a way to repair him. In the process, Jake discovers the life that has been passing in front of him, reconnecting with his wife and daughter across a distance he didn't know was there.”
'After Yang' trailer
Watch the After Yang trailer below, which in addition to providing a look at the story and performances at the center of the movie includes snippets from some early reviews praising it.
'After Yang' cast
Colin Farrell leads the cast of After Yang as the patriarch of the central family, Jake. March 4 will be a good day for fans of Colin Farrell, as the actor is not only slated to star in After Yang but will appear in The Batman as Oswald Cobblepot, aka the Penguin. The two movies are a solid encapsulation of the Irish actor’s career, mixing between big budget blockbusters like Minority Report, SWAT and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and quirkier indie movies that he has received some of his best reviews for, like In Bruges and The Lobster.
Jodie Turner-Smith stars as Kyra in After Yang, the mother of the main family. Turner-Smith has been working since about 2013, but she broke out in the latter part of the 2010s appearing in The Last Ship and Queen & Slim. In the last year she has also starred in the Prime Video Tom Clancy adaptation Without Remorse and the TV mini series Anne Boleyn.
The other two members of the family in After Yang are the young daughter Mika, played by Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja (iCarly) and Justin H. Min (The Umbrella Academy) as the A.I. Yang.
Additional members of the cast include Haley Lu Richardson (Columbus, The Edge of Seventeen), Ritchie Coster (The Dark Knight, The Flight Attendant), Sarita Choudhury (And Just Like That …, Homeland) and Clifton Collins Jr. (Westworld, Traffic).
'After Yang' director
Directing, as well as writing, After Yang is Kogonada. The filmmaker burst onto the scene in 2017 after years of directing video documentary shorts with the acclaimed indie movie Columbus, which instantly made him a director to watch. After Yang is only Kogonada’s second movie.
Kogonada is also slated to launch his first TV series in 2022, Pachinko on Apple TV Plus, for which he directed all eight episodes.
'After Yang' buzz
As mentioned above, After Yang has been playing the film festival circuit, so many critics have already weighed in on the movie. The early word is good.
Rotten Tomatoes has After Yang with an 86% “Fresh” score with more than 90 reviews in, while Metacritic has it scored with an 84 and has given it the site’s “Must-See” designation.
After Yang is already an award winner as well, as it took home a special prize during the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.
