"I like this."
"What?"
"Just talking to you."
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As I write this review, I am about a month away from turning 35. I am still "young" in theory, but I feel like I am that point in my life where I am starting to think a lot about my past...especially when it comes to how I dealt with relationships and how everything may have progressed within them.
I also write this review having recently celebrated a decade of living in New York City...and so much has changed. I moved here on the cusp of turning 25 and in many ways, part of me feels like it was yesterday and in others it feels like a whole other life.
I can only imagine how this might feel for someone who immigrated to the US from another country...and all of the friends they may have left behind and would possibly lose touch with.
Past Lives begins in 1999 Seoul where two 12-year-olds named Na Young and Hae Sung are friends who begin to develop an attraction for each other. Just as soon as this interest begins, Na Young's parents plan to immigrate to Toronto, and she takes on the English name of Nora.
12 years pass and we find Nora (now played by Greta Lee) in New York working as a writer. Meanwhile, Hae Sung (now played by Teo Yoo) is still in Seoul and about to go to China on a language exchange program. While talking to her mom via Skype, the topic of Hae Sung comes up and she ends up discovering that Hae Sung was looking for her on a Facebook post about one of her father's films as a director.
Nora reaches out and they begin to have countless Skype conversations reconnecting as if time was simply irrelevant. However, soon after, the distance is felt and Nora asks that maybe they stop talking since it seems that Hae Sung doesn't have the means (or the drive) to fly to New York...nor does Nora really want to return to Seoul.
Hae Sung, feeling hurt by this, tries to accept and goes off to China where he ends up meeting and dating another woman while Nora goes off to a writer's retreat in the Hamptons where she meets a fellow writer named Arthur (John Magaro). Their connection feels almost immediate, and she tells him of the Korean belief of "in-yeon" where if you meet someone, you likely met them in a past life...and that lovers are people you would meet over and over again throughout your past lives. Arthur asks her if she truly believes this, to which Nora says that she doesn't and that is really just an excuse for Koreans to seduce each other.
Another 12 years pass, and we find Nora and Arthur married. She is now a well-respected playwright, and he is a regarded novelist. Like clockwork, Hae Sung reaches out to Nora and tells her he is finally coming to New York and hopes to see her.
Arthur tells her he is pretty sure that Hae Sung is hoping for another chance. Nora isn't so sure...
But the answer quickly becomes clear.
Past Lives was the first movie from 2023 that I heard such strong buzz about back when it premiered at Sundance. A small indie romance that uses New York city as a primary backdrop? Sign me up!
Still though, the rapturous buzz can often be a detriment. Even looking on Letterboxd now, I can see quite a few reviews commenting on the film not living up to its immense hype. In a way, I can sort of understand this opinion as a film with such a subtle approach to a "what if?" romance is a topic we have certainly seen before. Hell, this is a subgenre that is frequently seen in a lot of Korean film and TV.
But I won't count myself amongst the detractors here...because frankly, this was the film I really needed right at this moment.
Past Lives feels like a truly beautiful but bittersweet gift.
Despite what certain naysayers might say, I feel like the film benefits from what a situation that is somewhat universal. Sure, not everyone has immigrated from a country that is on the other side of the world...but people have had lost loves and wondered simply what might have been if things just panned out a little differently.
This was the work of Celine Song, a South-Korean Canadian writer who had primarily worked in off-Broadway theatre and had a staff writing gig on Amazon's The Wheel of Time. As her feature film debut, Song shows a lot of promise...especially considering this IS a story we've seen a variation on before, but it feels deeply personal, and the emotional resonance is there. I will certainly keep my eye on her career from here on out...and I also suspect that she could end up being a fringe candidate for an Oscar nomination. Honestly, I think she is an early frontrunner candidate to win Best Original Screenplay...although she will have stiff competition, mainly Gerwig and Baumbach for Barbie.
With that strong assurance behind the camera, I think the film gets a huge boost by its trio of actors.
Greta Lee, Teo Yeo, and John Magaro do truly lovely work and I think the sad truth is that the more subtle nature of their performances (and the early release date) could have them be forgotten once the award season gets into full swing.
However...
With the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes still in full swing, the lack of campaigning will actually make this award season potentially quite interesting...but it could also strangely backfire. Will this allow some quieter and quirkier candidates to slip into the race or will lead to lazy namechecking because people are too blind to seek out many alternatives?
One thing that could help Past Lives is that it was the first film to get a SAG-AFTRA approved interim agreement for its team to do press in preparation for awards season. For a film like Past Lives, it is a sad truth that it needs this kind of exposure more than a film like, say, Killers of the Flower Moon.
I really hope it does benefit the film and its performers...and I do want to talk about this trio.
John Magaro is one of those character actors who has been steadily working in high profile projects for over the past decade and I feel like this could be the role that pushes him to getting more recognition...even if he misses out on an Oscar nod in the end. His Arthur is such a genteel presence and I actually highly respect him for how he handles everything that occurs within the film. Sure, he might be jealous but he just kind of lets the scenario play out with a dignity that doesn't make you necessarily find him as weak. It is a very lived in and real performance; one of those cliches you read about often when you get a performance that is rather subtle...but hey, if it fits then it fits! I do feel like it would be nice to see him get more mainstream recognition for it.
Greta Lee seems to be the ambassador of the majority of the film's praise, and I can understand why. She is certainly the soul of the film, and I would argue that this performance is a game-changer for her. Prior to Past Lives, I only really knew Lee from the Netflix series Russian Doll opposite Natasha Lyonne. Her career, as she would also describe in a New York Times piece, was often filled with her playing "larger than life" characters...and that here, the challenge was playing someone more restrained. She does succeed within that department, but she manages to give the role an inner life that does feel far more vibrant than meets the eye at first glance.
If Lee is the film's soul, that makes Teo Yoo the heart.
Yoo is even more restrained that Lee in many ways...and I would argue that his role might be more of the tight rope act. Lee's Nora is the protagonist and, frankly, we completely get why she may feel frustrated with Hae Sung. We also see that she and Arthur are happily married and that he is a good decent man.
Having Hae Sung come in and potentially be a homewrecker is simply not the best look...and yet...when Soo comes onscreen when they meet again in person after what would've been 24 years, his meek expression as if he reverted back to the young 12-year-old boy who pined for her instantly makes you feel for him.
You are left in a quandary then...because the simple truth is that both Arthur and Hae Sung are good men...and likely both would make Nora very happy.
That's really a key factor to the film's success because you simply care about all three of them...and you don't want to see them unhappy...but how Song handles this journey is commendable.
I watched this movie a few weeks ago, so I have been sitting on it for a bit trying to gather my thoughts. Frankly, I am not quite sure I have fully grasped how I feel about it.
I am not meaning that in any kind of negative way...but rather, I feel like the film just truly spoke to me and I felt it deeply. There are aspects of my life and my own past experiences that I sort of relived watching this film...and perhaps, maybe I am avoiding dwelling on it for fear of bringing up a lot of pain again.
But alas...I try to "smile because it happened" as the saying goes.
Past Lives succeeded in making me feel so many emotions...and I could see myself revisiting the film over the years and basking in all of them over and over again. It is absolutely wonderful exercise in beauty at its most simplistic.
RATING: 9.5/10
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