Past Lives (2023)

So English yet so Korean...

U know that one thing that is different about kdramas that you cannot find in other dramas all around the world. That vibe, feel that is hard to define but it is there. Yes, that is what I find the most in this movie. This movie is so Korean yet so English, one can only understand this after watching it. This masterpiece is unforgettable and has a very realistic ending. The eye contact between the leads is my favorite part of this movie.
And of course, this is the best movie of the year...
So don't contemplate whether to watch it or not and just watch it.

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About a great service of love AKA a fateful, karmic relationship

"Past Lives" is a US production. Both the author and the two 'Korean' leads have Korean roots, but they did NOT grow up in Korea, nor do they live there. The story is autobiographically inspired and is dramaturgically presented in authentic dialogues on the one hand and selected, visually impressive sets on the other. It is about the aspect of fate (and or Karma) in encounters as well as pondering platonic love. "Past Lives" is indulging into the emotional world of more or less accountable and sensitive reflection of the protagonists, especially of those two extraordinarily mature, fine young men. You rarely see that. Additionally, as far as camera work was concerned, light and perspectives were chosen with care and thus implemented as supplementary actor, sort of. All this is quite wonderful and has already been widely praised. “Past Lives” is thus a movie well worth seeing.

This movie presents South Korea and an attitude towards South Korea through the eyes of a South Korean girl who during the 1990s emigrated with her family at the age of 12. She then grew up in Canada, tried her luck as a playwright in New York, married an American, received the green card as side effect, and is ambitiously seeking recognition and success as a writer today. “Past Loves” thus has its positive emphasis on life in the US. The protagonist´s family had turned their back on South Korea. However, besides everything else, that has been already mentioned all over the place, I would say, that "Past Lives" is actually indirectly, in a rather subtle, reserved, unobtrusive way, (almost overlooked and hidden underneath the shiny, promising dominance of the US,) about positive Korean specific qualities, too... Therefore…

Generally, “Past Lives" juxtaposes those two ´worlds´ rather dichotomously. THERE South Korea, the country of origin that was left behind - far away and rather in the background, in the camouflage colors of the military and surrounded by plenty of soju. HERE the USA - reduced to a highly stylized New York (and artist retreat on Long Island), that is bathing in beautiful light and selected colors. In several respects, the United States is presented as the unrivalled better choice.
However, we experience these worlds through the eyes of the protagonist. In Nora's eyes, South Korea stands for conservative narrow mindedness, constraints, lack of freedom (which to some extend is certainly true). The USA, on the other hand, for her is the symbol for freedom, creative power, partake (should, could, might as well…). Eventually, those world views turn upside down. These are prejudicial concepts, both of which are not generally correct, e.g. each not representing the whole truth.

So, KOREAN normal everyday life is portrayed as conservative, shaped by her parents perspective and Nora's childhood impressions of the 1990s: the young democracy, already economically shaken by the Asian crisis. Her parents were artists and as such one way or another most probably influenced by the shaky turbulences of pro-democracy movement of the 1980s. They wanted a fresh start. Yet, what remains in Nora's memories? Very vague memories of school days, of what was said at home, of the striking images that remain impressively to this day. Bottom line: 'Men have to do their military service.' 'People are conservative and unsophisticated.' 'Men dependently live at their parents´ home until marriage.´ ´You can´t proceed in life.´
On the other hand, NORTH AMERICA is the much-cited world of unimagined possibilities. For Nora specifically, it is about a liberal world for the arts. She´s dreaming about her successful future, while the ambitious daughter may actually be living a much wanted life in lieu of her parents, too, to a certain extent. However, this ambitious dream is symbolically captured as an aesthetically abstract decal of New York and the Montauk artist retreat. For Nora, the USA represent a possibility to fulfil her dream of international prizes as an author. Thus, the USA as the center of her life is uncompromising and practically non-negotiable. That's okay and understandable.

This South Korea in the movie has a strong touch of Nora´s own prejudices. Apparently, she never emotionally processed or reflected her relationship to her country of origin. A deficit, which may also narrow down the perspective of the audience. Therefore, I would like to stand up for positive 'Korean merits', which only shine through subtly. In fact, though, they are formative for the characteristic poetic quality of the story. They come along in the person of Hae Sung. Thanks to him Nora can finally hold the key to her emotional freedom in her hands. (Whatever she may do with it now...) Thanks to Hae Sung (so to speak) she got her story and thus her tremendous success as a writer and director, too.

If you don't identify with Nora´s enthusiasm for the US so much, it might be easier to recognize those ´Korean merits´. Hae Sung actually embodies the opposite of what has settled in Nora's mind about South Korea. He stands for a new spirit among the digitalized young generation - even though he is an engineer. She, however, sees what she wants to see, reducing him to military service, close family ties, his clearly structured career and his reserved answers to her questions about marrying or rather not marrying his girlfriend.
Nora overlooks the fact that in his half-hearted answers about marital responsibility he carefully avoids generalizations so as not to overwhelm her with his feelings for her. She overlooks the fact that Hae Sung is indeed the courageous creator of his own world, possibly facing life even more creatively and openly than she dares herself. He chooses to study abroad in China because he wants to learn the language and because it may suit his career, too. He is ambitiously following his career plans, just like she does. Nevertheless, he is open to life´s challenges and ready to completely turn everything upside down. He is actively dealing with what is going on between the two. He prefers not to go for a logical, reasonable marriage. Instead, he takes what his heart tells him, seriously. He wants to sincerely check it out. This makes him vulnerable, too. Actually it was him, who originally went looking for Nora. With courageous creativity he took the chances life had to offer in his own hands. From a practical point of view, HE thought creatively and acted courageously. Nora on the other hand was the one, who, to a certain extent, simply unwinds her program without looking to the left or right.

Back then, when she left South Korea, she just put her feelings away, came up with a new name, learned the new language and left her best friend (and Korea) behind like an old toy. Since then her feelings for her old homeland only slumber unconsciously in her dreams. In her life, which is highly concentrated on her career as an artist, her past and origins have not been given the place they deserve. Hae Sung has to come first to open the door to that forgotten dungeon of her heart.
Still, we don't know whether Nora was able to take the 'little one' in herself by the healing hand - the 12-year-old Na Young, whom she had left alone in the past. All we know is that Hae Sung gave her a chance to reconcile with her roots and a hidden, almost forgotten part of herself. His great service of love was: not forgetting her, not giving up on her; looking out for her; meeting her, too; recognizing her for who she is; reminding her of something else, that she had almost forgotten; and finally letting her be - in an understanding, loving, respectful, ´Korean´ manner. Even if it hurts.
Actually, being himself, he represented another powerful aspect of South Korea, that Nora had so far not realized as such: A finely nuanced, rather emotionally dominated and yet respectful attitude towards life. This in contrast to a rather dichotomously shaped - black/white, good/bad, yes/no -, rather reasonable approach towards life, as it radiates from her 'North America'-concept.

At the heart of "Past Lives" is the probing of the protagonists' feelings for each other. What are those feelings supposed to be? Platonic maybe? Or more than that? And of course the story lives from the attraction of 'What if?'. This careful scanning of a space of potentiality is processed aesthetically cultivated, and stylishly. Respectfully too. Finally there are tears. ´Past Lives´ it is… However, the striking poetic aspect of this story is only made possible (in my opinion) by this very South Korean Hae Sung, who is not afraid to meet the multilayered complexity of emotional depth, confusing affection and difficult challenges in life, and (!) who is also not afraid to back off in respect to a larger context either. Thus he eventually even provided her on the silver platter of his heart with the so much longed for international artistic success...

PS:
Must be the 'In-yeon' they keep talking about throughout the movie...


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SIDE NOTE:
In-yeon = a fateful, karmic relationship
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Great concept, confusing storytelling.

On paper I understand what I’m supposed to get from the story, but I am not sure the director did a good enough job for me to say the idea was translated well on screen. It ended up with me feeling like everyone is unhappy, because of the choices the female lead made.

While the movie had many great and poetic moments, I kept getting distracted by my own feelings which were: I felt extremely bad for the husband. Especially during the bar scene - whatever charm the scene was supposed to have, lost for me coz I kept thinking about the husband and how awful the whole situation must be for him.

The performances were great, though I was just not that into how the characters were written. Personally, I did not find Nora either likable or interesting. Not sure if I liked Hae Sung or just Yoo Teo’s pretty eyes and face, but he for sure aced the melancholic nostalgia feeling.

There was one scene that I really liked, and it was the “waiting for uber” one. I felt like it perfectly sums up the themes of the movie - connection, timing, hesitation. Would prefer if the movie actually ended there.

Overall, kind of enjoyable, but you truly need to completely ignore the husband and his side of this whole story not to feel at best awkward, at worst awful.

Side note - Polish subtitles in the cinema were awful. Maybe Korean phrases were translated in such a weird and “strong” way as if the characters were swearing left and right, when the meaning was supposed to be much lighter in tone.

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There’s a word in Korean - 인연 (imyeon). It means providence or fate.

SO EVOCATIVE AND EXHILARATING AND FORMIDABLE - A BREATH OF COLD, CRISP AIR IN 100 MINS. WE LOVE YOU TEO YOO ??? Past Lives is adulthood and cultural assimilation, yet fundamentally native and a homage to what could have been. But at the same time, displaying that it’s never too late for anything. The relief of reaching out to an old friend from ages ago and you are both the same as you were to each other. You both haven’t changed for the worse, it’s the same self from back then, even if you’re different to people in your new life. Your authenticity is the same, yet with new confidence, achievements and culture. Even if life and growing up takes over, the person you met when you were young still stays in your mind - that first message & first reunion in absolutely ages doesn’t just remind you of your childhood, but your heritage and who you’re fated to be.

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"If you leave something behind, you gain something, too"

Writer/Director Celine Song brought out the Kdrama tropes in her directorial film debut Past Lives. She took such tropes as childhood connection (destiny!), lovestruck second male lead, and the much-maligned love triangle and used them in fresh ways. The film I was expecting and the film that played out before me were quite different.

Na Young and Hae Sung are best buddies at the age of twelve. Then her family emigrates to Canada separating the two children. Twelve years later Na Young, now called Nora, looks up old friends on a lark, including Hae Sung. The two reconnect via computer and begin conversing. Hae Sung wants her to come to Korea for a visit and she wants him to come to New York City where she lives. Feeling at an impasse in her life she goes on a break from Hae Sung. Twelve years later, now at the age of 36, Hae Sung comes to NYC to visit the married Na Young.

I dreaded Nora’s husband, Arthur, being portrayed as the rich, abusive or disinterested white guy standing in the way of the sacred childhood connection. I laughed when Arthur said their situation would make a great story, “I would be the evil white American husband standing in the way of destiny. I’m the guy you leave when your ex-lover comes to take you away.” In reality, Arthur was a loving, generous husband, who was learning Korean to better connect with his wife. He didn’t throw a jealous hissy fit when Hae Sung came to town. He respected Nora enough to let her do what she needed to.

Hae Sung arrived in town, obviously still in love with Na Young. Or was he only in love with the idealized version of her? He hadn’t spent any time with her since she was a child. He still lived with his parents and considered himself too ordinary. Despite working, he hadn’t made enough money to marry and had recently broken up with his longtime girlfriend. It didn’t help that handsome Yoo Teo looked his age (42) and not 36 which further made me wonder about his hesitancy with life choices.

The star of the film was Na Young/Nora. She had always had dreams and goals and was highly competitive. She was a playwright and working out her own destiny. The choices she’d made weren’t easy but she knew where she wanted to go and what she wanted to do. That didn’t mean she was cold and calculating. She’d loved Hae Sung as a child and maybe even as an adult. But she also loved her husband and was funny and affectionate with him. Nora made the choices that were right for her, no excuses, and actually seemed satisfied with her decisions. After making the painful decision to go on the break with Hae Sung she never showed any regret. That didn’t mean she didn’t miss him or Seoul, and maybe more importantly, who she was in Seoul. As an immigrant, she had two selves, and both were authentic and important. Hae Sung helped her remember the little girl from Seoul she’d left behind.

Greta Lee gave a lovely nuanced performance as Na Young/Nora. Without tears and histrionics, she delicately showed her character working through where she wanted to be, who she wanted to be with, and more importantly---who she wanted to be. Joe Magara made Arthur a sympathetic three-dimensional character subtly playing out a variety of emotions. Yoo Teo brought a vulnerability to Hae Sung as a man who had to take one last chance to see his childhood love.

This film was far less a love triangle and more one of Nora’s self-discovery and reconnecting with her past and ethnic identity. Many people have that “what could have been” someone in their life. But often that person is in the perfected past of memory and not the imperfect reality of the present. Past Lives gave us mature, honest adults coming to the realization of what doors needed to be closed, opened, and left slightly ajar.

25 August 2024



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Dude, 24 years? That is why you ended up the second lead. Luck and love favor the bold!

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Chamber play without any sense

Maybe I'm too old and experienced to much to understand the meaning behind this film.

It's somehow far-fetched to pack so many questions of fate into this short vacation with a childhood friend (hand on heart, who remembers their friend from elementary school so much?!?) in New York.
A what if and what could have been play, that somehow doesn't make sense.
If the two of them had had something together, it would have been more realistic - but so???
Well, we can watch good actors and admire a little bit of New York in beautiful pictures. That also has something of its own. But I don't understand the hype surrounding this film.

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A diaspora diary of home, maturing and love.

As a diaspora myself, I appreciate how this movie highlights that thriving a life outside your home country can be a challenge. You’re faced with choices that make you lose and find different possibilities. It's also one of the bravest things one might do.

On the production side, the cinematography and characters introductions are great. There are a lot of scenes without words that are meaningful, they’re the best show not tell executions.

This is a very personal statement: I don’t feel any emotion to Nora’s romance life nor the longing or yearning. More than the plot shrouded by the fate analogy, I enjoyed the mature interactions among the three leads; Nora, Hae Sung and Arthur. They act natural and casual. there’s definitely a clear chemistry. It is refreshing to find no typical dramatic love triangle here. No one is toxic nor being overprotective.


Final remark without spoiling it, I wasn’t expecting the sudden ending. Just like that the movie ends and we know what happen. It has a clear conclusion and I agree with everything, but there's no build up that make the grand feeling of "ahh, ending!“

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Two childhood friends reunite after 20 years

I remember one day in May this year when I was browsing through Letterboxd and suddenly, one poster caught my attention. It said Past Lives and after I watched the trailer, I knew I needed to watch it. Unfortunately, one thing interrupted my excitement and it was the fact that it would be released in July, which was two long (boring?) months away :(

Today was finally The Day I was waiting for. I couldn't sleep, didn't have hunger, had no motivation to do anything, only wanted to watch Past Lives. So I went with Mom to the second local cinema in my city, which isn't exactly the classic big cinema with multiple screening rooms and a bar with popcorn and other stuff (this has only two screening rooms, a little bar with (mostly alcoholic) drinks). The tickets are like the small pieces of paper in old cinemas. When you sit there it feels like you are sitting in a movie club with movie fans and not with random people, after the end of a movie when you see that everyone still sits in their seats and watch the credits is something so nice that it always warms my heart (in my opinion I think the credits are part of a movie which should be watched as well because by doing so you honor the film and the people who worked on it). I personally like this cinema more than the bigger one that we have here, they do movie marathons, they screen movies that are not in the big cinemas (old or not well-known titles by not well-known directors) and many other nice things ♥

I know I should not say this because it's quite a lazy sentence that won't tell you anything, but everything in this movie was perfect! The ost – it was a big part of the movie, it would be weird without it. The story – it's just a simple story about love which is nice to see after the films I watched. The characters sometimes just stare at each other and it is worth hundreds of words. The cinematography – aesthetic and pleasant to watch like wow every shot was amazing. You feel like you are there with the characters - that is such a great feeling when movies can do this magic ^^ (I was in NY in person and even on the same street eeeee, sorry I needed to flex a little haha) And the Actors – Greta Lee and Teo Yoo were awesome I was already familiar with both of them.

It got me at the end, I couldn't hold the feelings anymore ㅜ-ㅜ
My new comfort movie.

Watched twice already, thinking to watch it for the third time :D
Can't wait to see Song's second movie Materialists (current name) ^^

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i'm obsessed & in love

it's the first time i'm writing a review here, it just shows a little of the amount of emotions i felt when watching this gem.
i can't really express how much i'm in love with this movie. it's been days since i watched it and i can't stop thinking about everything that happened. the song that plays in the end is amazing as well. i've loved this movie since the beginning, it's now one of my favorites for sure. i couldn't stop noticing the peace they clearly felt in the moments they were together. the tranquility of just being in silence, looking at each other... it was an incredible and beautiful experience watching this movie. i loved every second of it and i'll definitely watch it again in the future.

"if you leave something behind, you gain something too."
"what if this is a past life, who do you think we are to each other in the next?"

"will we meet again in the light?"

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Not as good as I expected

People have been raving about this film and one of the leads, Yoo Teo, became a favorite after I saw him in the Kdrama Love to Hate You so I had high expectations. Unfortunately, I feel let down after seeing this. It's definitely not a bad film and the cinematography is stunning. But the characters are underdeveloped and I especially had trouble with the FL who I found neither likable or interesting. As someone from a non-English speaking family who moved 3000 miles away from home as a young adult, I expected to relate to the story's characters and themes but instead they mostly left me cold.

The saving grace of the film is Yoo Teo, who delivers a wonderful, melancholic performance as a man who can't bring himself to stop asking what if. His eyes hold all of the emotion and poignance that should've been present in the film's writing and the FL's characterization. Alas, he was the only person I empathized with.

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"If this is already a past life, who do you think we are to each other in the next?"

"Past Live" gave us one of the best films cinematography, powerful dialogue, and grounded acting, capturing a familiar and authentic essence of life. Set against a backdrop of wistful nostalgia, the movie delves into the intricate interplay of "what if" and "unfinished past love," weaving a tale of heartfelt emotions and missed opportunities. Amid the captivating "what if" scenarios, the central theme of unfinished past love remains a poignant undercurrent, underscoring the ache of unresolved feelings and unspoken words.

The chemistry between the characters is palpable, lending authenticity to their emotions and dilemmas as they grapple with the temptation to alter their shared history. Throughout the movie, the audience is invited to contemplate the delicate balance between fate and free will, as the characters navigate the blurred boundaries of the past, present, and potential futures. While the exploration of the "what if" scenarios offers a sense of catharsis, the film ultimately embraces the bittersweet beauty of embracing one's past and moving forward, even if some chapters remain unfinished. Through its evocative storytelling, the movie resonates as a heartfelt ode to the complexities of love, regrets, and the profound impact of the choices we make.

The pain of watching Nora and Hae-sung repeatedly part ways resonates deeply, showing that certain connections are irreplaceable. Ultimately, "Past Lives" managed to depict real-life scenarios without always needing a happy ending.

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