Past Lives Review: Celine Song's Achingly Beautiful, Contemplative Drama Is A Must-See [Sundance]
Playwright Celine Song makes her feature debut with "Past Lives," a stunning, melancholy, altogether beautiful story of two people who keep missing their chance to be together — at least in this lifetime. Spanning over 20 years, "Past Lives" begins in South Korea, where we meet childhood friends Na Young and Hae Sung. They're close in the way only childhood friends can be, until one day when 12-year-old Na Young moves to Canada, leaving Hae Sung behind — clearly hurt at losing his friend.
Years later, Na Young is now an adult living in New York and going by the name Nora (played by Greta Lee). She's a playwright and determined to find greatness through her work. But one night she suddenly remembers Hae Sung and decides to see if she can find him on Facebook. As it turns out, Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), still living in Korea, has been looking for Nora (whom he only knows as Na Young) for years.
The two reconnect and begin talking via Skype. The conversations are fun and flirty, charming and sweet in what they say and what they don't. The two are drawing close again — and then Nora hits the brakes. A part of her badly wants to book a flight to Korea and be with Hae Sung, but another part of her doesn't want to abandon her burgeoning artistic career. And so she makes a proposal: the two of them will stop talking, just for a little while. Hae Sung agrees, but clearly not without regrets. That "little while" turns out to be 12 years. In that time, a lot changes for Nora — she marries another writer, the kind and funny Arthur (John Magaro), and her career and life seem to be on the right path. But then she learns Hae Sung is coming to New York. He claims he's only coming for vacation, but Nora suspects the real reason is to see her.
Of course, she's right.
The branch I landed on
Director Celine Song captures all of this in a lovely, contemplative way — the camera drifts its way through scenes almost dreamily. Sometimes, a shot will linger on an object, or a wall, or a window, long after the scene itself has ended. When two characters are having a conversation, the camera will float back and forth between them, as if it were a feather drifting back and forth on an oscillating breeze. Sound plays an important part in the storytelling as well — sounds of the city, sounds of nature, sounds of rain sliding down against window glass. The world the film inhabits feels rich and real and frequently beautiful.
When Hae Sung arrives in New York, he and Nora hit the town, sightseeing at various New York spots while Arthur, who says he's not concerned about all of this but is clearly a little uncomfortable, remains home. This enables the two childhood friends to reconnect in quiet, contemplative ways. The concept of "In Yun" is bought up — first between Nora and Arthur, and then later between Norra and Hae Sung. It's an idea that involves reincarnation, and how everyone you encounter in this life — however briefly — is someone you encountered thousands of times before in thousands of other lives. "Perhaps I was a bird and you were the branch I landed on," Nora tells Hae Sung at one point, a line so beautiful that it caused me to briefly catch my breath.
"Past Lives" is a quiet, meditative film, but it is stunning in its execution. The chemistry feels real between Greta Lee and Teo Yoo, but it also feels just as genuine between Lee and Magaro. Arthur could've easily been the third wheel character, and in one of the film's most knowing scenes, he contemplates that if their lives were a movie, Arthur would be the boring white husband keeping Nora from her long-lost love. But Arthur is clearly a kind, understanding person, and Hae Sung can see that.
The dreamy, deliberate pacing of all of this never feels overlong. Instead, the film gathers you up in its hands and carries you along with it, resulting it what will surely be one of the best films of 2023. And audiences will surely find themselves swept up in the reality the characters find themselves in — who among us doesn't have regrets and dreams about the past? We're all haunted and sometimes comforted by thoughts of what might have been, and acceptance of what we really have, in this life or the next.
/Film Rating: 9 out of 10