Someone at a robot company once told me a story about one of its bomb disposal machines. The soldiers who had been using the robot in Afghanistan were dismayed after it returned from repairs. They said that the robot's shiny new parts and casing--lacking the bullet holes and blast scars they knew--made it seem as if the machine itself had, in a sense, died. It might seem odd, grieving a robot. But for anyone who's seen After Yang, the beautiful and strange new movie by the South Korean filmmaker Kogonada, it won't.

Comparisons between Kogonada's new film, "After Yang," and his earlier one, "Columbus," are inevitable, and their differences obscure the big idea that unites them. "After Yang" is a science-fiction film, set in a vague future time at an unspecified place, seemingly in the United States; its title character is an android, or "technosapien." "Columbus," his first feature, from 2017, is set in its own present day, in the real-life city of Columbus, Indiana, and centered on a young woman played by Haley Lu Richardson. "After Yang" is a synthetic work of dystopian imagination, and "Columbus" is a carefully realistic view of its place and time. Nonetheless, the two films are propelled by the same impulse: the artistic basis of mental life, the politics of aesthetics.

In the film After Yang, a father goes to great lengths to save his daughter's best friend. It just so happens this bestie is a humanoid robot, or technosapien, named Yang. Can he be easily replaced, and what's the value of his artificial life? Like a cross between Black Mirror and Spike Jonze's Her, After Yang explores humanity and existence through the lens of technology, while director Kogonada (Columbus) crafts a vision of the future that feels truly distinct. After a virtuoso opening sequence, where families compete in a virtual dance contest in their living rooms, Yang (Justin H. Min) malfunctions. He's not just some robotic butler; he's a culture technosapien meant to help Jake's adoptive daughter, Mika (Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja), learn about her Chinese heritage.