Movie Review: ‘Past Lives Is A Gorgeous Meditation On Love, Chance — And The Choices We Make
Two minutes later, the Uber app briefly promises “Past Lives”. And if you're like me, maybe for the first time in your Uber life you're hoping that promise is a blatant lie.
Because it's going to take you more minutes, way longer than the couple this Uber has to break up, even if they're just staring at each other on the street and saying absolutely nothing.
This is a small episode of playwright Celine Song's brilliant and exciting debut. But it underscores his incredible confidence as a director. Song, who writes and directs here, keeps making small, understated choices, almost breaking our hearts in the process with a story that feels universal yet rich in detail, haunting yet immediate. And if, like me, you suddenly feel the tears welling up, they may surprise you precisely because nobody tried to force them.
We begin with the trio talking in a New York bar. A woman surrounded by two men. We're too far away to hear what they're saying or understand how they're connected, and we hear distant voices thinking, "Maybe it's tourists and he's a tour guide."
Flashback to Seoul 24 years ago, where Nora (then called Na Young) and her close friend Hae Sun, both 12 years old, were walking home from school. Nora with long braided hair cries because she lost first place to Hae Sung in the school exam. (She's ambitious.) The friendship for a brief romance unfortunately ends when Nora's family moves to Canada.
Twelve years pass. Nora (Greta Lee, Amazing! in a smart, understated performance consistent with his directing style) has now relocated to New York as an aspiring playwright (yes, much of this story is autobiographical). One day he jokingly tries to find numbers from his past. While searching for Hae Sung, she discovers that he has also been searching for her recently.
They set up a video call, which was initially delayed, but soon they were talking day and night. Hae Sun (Tea Yoo) still lives at home, which is typical for young Koreans, and studies at the university. He plans to go to China. Nora is pursuing her dreams (her goal has changed from Nobel Prize to Pulitzer Prize).
When the distance becomes too painful, Nora calls for a break. He soon visits a writer's residence and meets fellow writer Arthur (John Magaro) there. And again 12 years. They live in Brooklyn and have been married for seven years.
Suddenly, Nora hears Hae Sung. He is from Seoul and wants to see her. Their meeting in the city park does not at all resemble a romantic comedy meeting, as it could be in another film. Song knows that in real life it's often impossible to react quickly or intelligently, even for a while. The director is shyly silent.
In the following days both get to know each other. It's not surprising that Arthur feels a little threatened. Late at night he quietly tells Nora that he dreams in Korean, a language and a world he doesn't know. She wonders if he's "the guy you leave behind when your ex takes you away."
And suddenly we're going back to the restaurant bar scene and now we get it. Three characters try to find their way through unusual circumstances. They discuss the "what ifs" and approach the Korean concept of destiny, which Nora previously explained as a connection between two people that is influenced or determined by past life relationships, hence the film's title.
Not to mention the ending, it should be noted that Song learned a lot from his life, right down to that bar scene and a similar visit from Korea as a result of a long-term relationship.
While there are some lessons to be learned from this, one of them is that the seemingly endless choices of our youth have consequences, even (or especially) when we are unaware of them. Neither choice seems irreversible, but eventually they merge into a single path in life.
But the playwright also tells us that versions of the same life can coexist. At one point, Nora realizes that the younger Korean version is still real and exists on a different level, even though the old New York version of her is different.
"This is my life, I live it with you," she says to Arthur first, trying to calm him down (and possibly herself). about how life could be.
The A24 release of "Past Lives" was rated PG-13 for "Oscenity" by the Motion Picture Association of America. Duration: 106 minutes. Four to three and a half stars.
MPAA rating PG-13. Parents urgently warned. Some content may not be suitable for children under the age of 13.
