Movie Review Past Lives

Past Lives (2023) 

Directed by Celine Song 

Written by Celine Song 

Starring Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, John Magaro 

Release Date June 30th, 2023 

Published July 3rd, 2023 

The opening scene of Past Lives catches you immediately off-guard. Our main characters are in a bar together but we are not with them. We are watching them from across the bar as we listen to characters we will never meet, talking about our main characters. These strangers speculate about who our main characters are, whose the husband, who is the lover or ex-lover, are they family members? What is their dynamic? It's the kind of conversation many of use nosy people have had about strangers in public for years. It might break with formal film construction to begin the movie from a perspective other than that of your main character but this breaking of formality is rather brilliant once you come to understand the story being told in Past Lives. 

Past Lives is the kind of movies that spark your imagination in unique ways. It leads you to conversations about it and its many, many ideas about life, love, relationships, friendships, and the dynamics of the heart and mind. It invites you to consider the role you play in the lives of others and how any meaningful interaction you've had with another person has changed you in some way, for good or for ill. It's about how the impressions you make on others matter in ways we most often overlook. It's about a gentle, thoughtful exploration of these ideas via three wonderfully complicated and warm characters. 

24 years ago in South Korea, Nora (Greta Lee) became friends with Hae Sung (Teo Yoo). They may have had more than friendly feelings for each other, but they were too young for that kind of thing. They did go on what their mother's called a 'date' but, again, too young for them to actually know what that means. In school they competed and encouraged each other. When Hae Sung finally beat Nora on a test, she cried and he offered her comfort, in the sort of rudimentary way a teenage boy might offer comfort. Their friendship is rather lovely until Nora bluntly informs her class that her family is moving to America, and she fails to prepare her best friend for this bombshell. 

He's clearly hurt by this and the two part ways almost silently, their last word being a simple and blunt 'Bye.' It takes a decade, but they do eventually reconnect. While chatting with her mother, Nora decides to search for her childhood friend on Facebook. She finds that he's been searching for her as well. This leads to a brief flirtation via Skype, hey it was a decade ago, okay? The relationship gets emotional and involved and discussions are had about seeing each other but life gets in the way. He can't travel to America because of his work, and she can't visit Korea because she's earned a chance to travel to a prestigious writer's commune. She suggests they take a break and he agrees. 

Read my full length review at Geeks.Media