Waiting for medical news feels like a sick form of torture, and depending on the severity, it puts life in a perspective where you have to prepare for two different outcomes. One where everything is fine and fixable, with the other filled with flashes of unknown futures. Writer-director Kogonada’s newest film, Zi, explores a 24-hour limbo a young woman is in while waiting for potentially life-altering results. A light sci-fi slice-of-life story that has a promising premise, but ultimately is an aimless stroll through the streets of Hong Kong. While it’s a visual dream, the bare-bones script lets down the talent in front of and behind the lens.
The film is named after the main character, Zi (Michelle Mao), a youthful and talented violinist who is having visions of her future. She is concerned enough to get herself checked out at a neurologist, who makes her go through testing. As she begins her wait until the next morning to hear the results, she floats from moment to moment. With the busy streets that surround her, full of life and constantly on the go, her stillness or lack of urgency while maneuvering the packed city shows her disconnect from reality.
Visibly she’s upset, crying openly on a set of stairs alone, realizing that there’s no one in her life to share this hardship with. Confused as to why she is seeing these visions, the only answer she’s willing to accept is that she’s losing her mind. As she sits by herself, a worried woman approaches, with a bad blonde wig, but her face is kind. She introduces herself as Elle (Haley Lu Richardson), but Zi knows that she has seen her before through the glimpses she sees of her future. Elle is much younger than these visions portray her as, while Zi looks the same, making her fall further and further away from whatever reality she thinks she is currently in.
The bond between Zi and Elle is hard to get into at first, and relies heavily on the viewer’s belief in the seemingly clairvoyant lead. Yet there’s a beauty to their dynamic. Elle wants to take Zi to meet someone who she thinks can help her. She leads them on a long journey across Hong Kong to Min (Jin Ha), who has a troubled past with both Hong Kong and his past lover, Elle. He holds insight into what is ailing her, mostly due to him observing her over the last several hours, unbeknownst to either of the women. The trio decides to take to the city and enjoy a night of drinking, singing, dancing, and untethered feelings.
Zi has an incredible ability to view a poetic and thoughtful look into Zi’s life, her quiet moments where she thinks she’s alone. At her parents’ grave, telling them that she fears she won’t recognize them when it’s her time to meet them. As she eats a meal alone, staring off into the bustling streets of the city. But the script fails to keep the emotional momentum going, and in turn, Kogonada chooses to show this newly formed trio going from new place to new place, letting their collected scenes come across as repetitive and aimless. Their connections are surface-level, and when Elle and Zi’s relationship shows a glimpse of a connection worthy of the haunting vision Elle has, it comes too late for Zi to be fervent.
Luckily for audiences, Mao plays this role perfectly, with a melancholic demeanor of what she thinks is an inevitable end, either for her health or her mind. Her work pulls hard on the pain that those who have experienced medical anxiety feel. The kind of mental anguish that is all-consuming, that makes you want to make potentially your last moments the best they can be. Mao, in one second, can be gleefully enjoying music and fireworks, and switch to sobbing at the thought of it being the last time she sees this. Richardson’s eager and calming presence pairs so well with Mao, and the film is at its best when it’s focusing on these two lonely women navigating truths they don’t want to face.
Kogonada makes Hong Kong its own character, and although it’s a captivating environment to be lost in, he seems more focused on showing the world around Zi than anything else. The city is lively with celebrations and traffic happening all over; it’s a great way to show how isolated she is, but it’s also easy for the three characters to feel disconnected from one another. The film’s cinematographer, Benjamin Loeb, clearly loves the city as well, and it’s a visual delight. With moments of stillness either in a hallway or an alley feeling rare, as the streets they cross have constant movement happening. Loeb chooses to shoot a lot of these characters from behind, making the viewer feel like they are another wandering person too busy to notice a woman who is falling apart.
It’s not hard to find something to enjoy from the film, but its half-filled script doesn’t give much to connect with. Without the lens of Loeb, or the performance from Mao, and occasionally Richardson, the film is a major letdown with such a compelling premise. Ultimately, Zi is a film that only gets as interesting as it appears on its surface, and rarely goes beneath it to be worthwhile.
Zi had its World Premiere in the NEXT section of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.
Director: Kogonada
Writer: Kogonada
Rated: NR
Runtime: 99m
Zi is a film that only gets as interesting as it appears on its surface, and rarely goes beneath it to be worthwhile.
