Good Enough
Korean/ USA Movie " Past Lives " is a drama about what ifs, lost relationships, and identity.The movie has impressive cinematography, with a gloomy New York as the main setting, offering the right space for the melancholic tone of the story. And true, the plot is quite blue, with the two main characters missing chance after chance to be together. At the same time, the questions of identity and home are often set out to become obstacles for them, other than bad timing and bad decisions.
Other than that, the movie seems to never reach that burst that the story needed, whether that was a happy ending or a tragic ending. Also, the time jumps were plenty and messed up the pace and the cohesiveness of the story.
Finally, the performances were smooth and enjoyable by every actor and actress in the cast.
So, overall, five out of ten. It's an interesting movie, but it turns out to be just okay.
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Beautiful, Poignant, Heart warming, Heart wrenching
It was beautiful, poignant, heart warming and heart wrenching all at the same time. One of the best movies I've watched. It really gets you thinking philosophically. Life is nothing but a sum of conscious choices that you make and you constantly think about the various "what-ifs", something all of us have experienced — the branching paths of life. The person who goes out of state for college must wonder what it would have been like if they had stayed closer to home. The person who lives in the town they grew up in dreaming about if they had accepted the job offer that would have taken them out of state. The person you went on a couple dates with but it didn’t work out because of timing. Our lives are full of these what ifs. And if we entertain every one of them, it can become a burden. A cherished burden. But a burden all the same. The movie gets at the idea of closure and letting go and being okay with living the life you have, and leaving the rest up to fate. You can’t be everything to everyone. Part of getting older is coming to terms with who we are rather than who we could have been.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Life is a series of choices, fate, destiny exist but it’s all about the choiceThe age confused me, they were 12, met again in 24 years which means they should be 36, even if it was only 20 years, they’d be 32, but he was in uni? And she was acting like a teen bubbly airhead?
And they remet in 12 more years so, 44/48?
By their behavior in life I’d have assumed it was 12, 21 and 35/40
Yoo teo presented the changes really well, he can project a cute gentleness of the second part
And fl she looked younger in the third part, a side part hair fits her perfectly
Alex? Already forgot his name, he had a good heart but dang he felt so average, not looks but personality and in ways that’s why she chose him, he would do anything for her, would he have a breaking point tho? Anyone would.
Anyway, this was like 2521, love and soulmate isn’t enough to make a relationship work. Long distance relationships aren’t just about physical distance, it’s about culture, routine, and the habitat one is used to, I personally can never leave my home
She wanted him to follow her life choices and move to new York while he also had his own steps he chose, he was her reminder of “home and belonging”, and she was his what if
Maybe he wouldn’t have regretted moving for her, isn’t love and passion a blink of an eye choice, she certainly wouldn’t have felt comfortable again in Korea
I wish the scene they ignored the husband in the bar was done differently like he left to give them space to talk rather than them ignoring him
Idk maybe it highlights his acceptance that that was closure, my personality would not handle that well ? I’d have left the next day?
Tbh I wanted them to end up together, idk it felt simple, get rid of Alex ? he certainly wavered that he was in competition with, but Nora did always have “open minded” set to the point mindset
She loved him but she wasn’t madly in love with him which does make sense for both, a kid’s admiration, turned into a what if but that was 34 years of living their lives
If it was hard to live without one another, either one would’ve made a move, even if it was just a weekend visit
Is love dead? I just want pure love storiesT_T
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This review may contain spoilers
how to be an ntr enjoyer?
...i watched this in theaters.. its the definition of korean aesthetics in film.. but there is a very big but.. it feels ntr and ntr on reverse form. basically the whole movie makes you think they both love each other ... but the movie poster tells you otherwise what the ending is.. close but not so close. the actress said theres no kissing scenes coz they were betting on something more. omegalul. in normal peoples words its bs . i watched it as if i wasted my whole time watching it.basically the husband feels like minor character third wheeling the whole film .
i dont really get why people say heartbreak as realistic when the whole premise of the film is unrealistic in the first place. you dont keep in touch that long . 6 months ldr people are already breaking up. and they pseudo break up without actually getting together. lul. i feel dirty after finished watching it. its like you ate a sweet flavored sewage water. its beautiful but this is not 500 days of summer where things are clearly sort of explained one way of another how they part ways. in this film.. they already parted way long ago.. so there's basically no point in closure when it already closed in the first place. making the whole thing pointless.
music and acting are the best part of this film. even the silence in certain parts i consider that as music.
if you have 10$ watch it. if not dont. you wont regret not watching it either way.
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Slightly off-tempo romance, beautiful cinematography
There's a lot of promising material in this film, but the heart of the story is a little off-target. The director has a real flair for depicting a city and its atmosphere, in a few aesthetically pleasing but not superficial shots, as well as the emotional weight these cities hold for the characters. It's with the latter that the problem arises: they're well acted (with subtle facial expressions in their interactions) and potentially plausible, but some of the dialogues should never have gone beyond the rough draft stage. As a result, the discussions between characters are sometimes very clumsy, without really having a naturalistic aspect, where key words are repeated over and over again without really moving forward. This aspect clashes all the more with the rather fast pace of this fairly short film, awkwardly slowing down what was hitherto moving at high speed.When we get away from this heavy-handedness, the characters take on much more meaning, as in the shorter exchanges via webcam, or when the two male leads meet for the first time and exchange introductions in each other's language. The final scene is equally beautiful, full of restrained tension.
The soundtrack is also well done. I can't wait to see her next film; despite the clumsiness of this first attempt, there's a lot to like here.
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Il y a beaucoup de matériau prometteur dans ce film, mais le cœur de l'ouvrage vise un peu à côté de la cible. La réalisatrice a une vraie belle patte pour ce qui est de dépeindre une ville et son atmosphère, en quelques plans esthétisants sans être superficiels, ainsi que le poids émotionnel que ces villes entretiennent avec les personnages. C'est avec ces derniers que le bât blesse un chouïa, ceux-ci sont bien interprétés (avec une mimique subtile dans leurs interactions) et potentiellement plausibles, mais certains des dialogues n'auraient jamais dû dépasser le stade de brouillon. Cela donne des discussions entre personnages parfois très pataudes sans vraiment avoir un aspect naturaliste où l'on répète à l'envie des mots clefs sans vraiment avancer. Cet aspect s'entrechoque d'autant plus avec le rythme plutôt rapide de ce film assez court en ralentissant assez maladroitement ce qui défilait jusque là à grande vitesse.
Quand on s'échappe de ces lourdeurs, les personnages prennent bien plus de sens, comme lors des échanges plus courts via webcam, ou bien quand les deux rôles masculins se rencontrent pour la première fois et échangent des présentations dans la langue de l'autre. La scène finale est également belle, toute en tension retenue.
La bande-son est de bonne facture également. J'ai hâte de voir son prochain film, malgré les maladresses de cette première tentative, il y a beaucoup de choses à aimer ici.
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It was an interesting premise but I got bored by it and felt it dragged on a bit. I guess I felt Teo Yoo's character was weird for wanting to meet up with his childhood crush. I mean they never even dated properly but he had these immense feelings for her. I also don't think I could have been OK as Nora husband having the guy come and visit either. I thought Greta Lee and Teo Yoo were great though.
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April 2024 Recommendation Challenge
Watch this for my April Recommendation Challenge by Natalie Rodriguez. Quite interesting story, talk about the hanging what if...Nora or Na Young & Jung Hae Sung (HS) were childhood friends that have puppy love with each other. They separated cause Nora's family emigrates from South Korea. HS try to reconnect with Nora through Nora's dad FB & successful, their reconnect 12 years after Nora's family emigrates. But life happen, and they separated again & continue with their own life. Nora met her husband, Arthur, & got married, while HS also got girlfriend.
Life go by, 12 years later, HS decided to reconnect again with Nora. HS visit Nora in America, he bring all the nostalgic feeling for Nora & leave her with all the what if questions. What if Nora not go to Canada, will they start their relationship, will their relationship continue with more serious one or will it fail...? And so on... So how will they continue the relationship? Will Nora finally choose HS over her husband?
One thing that really good about this movie is... How mature everyone is, especially Arthur. Arthur see how vulnerable Nora when she met HS, but still can put smile & calm in his face when he met HS. And the fact that Arthur still told Nora the truth about how he actually don't like that Nora met HS, but still appreciate & trust her in the end.
Overall this one good movie to reflect our own life & relationship with anyone around us.
Below is SPOILER ALERT!!! Read it with ur own risk.
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SPOILER ALERT!!!
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This end with sad ending for HS & Nora. They separated for good, no one sacrifice their own life for each other.
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IT was Greed of wanting more the what you have
what is story shows is a shameless woman wanting more and moreher greed toward what she can't have while Ignoring what she already have
Grass is always greener on other side
i don't get those who call this beautiful or love story
it appear like that on surface
they did not act according to there age, a grown ass woman 30+ acting like she is a toddler while having a affair in front of her husband without a thought
it not love its there self centered thinking that what they do is right thing
believing to be hero in story is delusion
every hero is a villain in someone else life
i wanted to give - rating.....
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Not quite there...
This one was suggested by a friend who is more into occidental movies. I had my fear as it looked more occidental than Korean. Director is canadian and yes, you can tell she's been living way longer in Canada than in Korea. So the movie is put toghether more like an american indie movie than a korean one.Story had potential, but it has many gaps and silences that are considered to be aesthetic in western indie movies. The long silence scenes with dull scenery do not add to this equation. Not even the soundtrack. I respect some japanese movies where they do sort of the same, but theirs are poetry somehow.
There is only one meaninful scene between main characters but it takes less than 5 minutes. I actually fall sleep before that as the pace was really slooooow. Oscar nominations? I'm way over the pedo academy awards.
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Uninspired and average
With such a crazy praise I definitely expected so much more. Of course, it's a good movie, but 1h 40m of two people meeting and parting wasn't a life-changing experience for me. The story tries to break away from romcom, but ends up just being "rom" without "com".Although I found it quite fun how it doesn't take me any effort anymore to switch between English and Korean. I swore at Arthur "If you want to understand her dreams so much just learn damn the language" and "배고파'밖에 몰라?" I also swore at Nora for disregarding her husband so badly and at Hae Seong for being so indecisive and passive. He doesn't deserve Nora, he didn't bother to lift his butt up 12 years ago, so why now?
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"What if..."
The worst pain of all is that feeling of "what if", you can't get over something that never really happened.I understand and feel for all the characters in this movie. Every word left unsaid, every insecurity, every feeling not explored is completely understandable and it pains to think that not one of them will get to sleep with a clear head anytime soon.
I loved it. All the conversations very realistic and the lingering feeling of uncomfortable moments.
Perfection!
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A completely perfect movie about love!
Past Lives is a rare love film, touching with its adorably simple visual language and accurate, but few-worded dialogue. The silence in this drama is more telling than spoken words could ever be.Love theme on film is about as worn out as a book on the bookshelf. Most varieties of complications and other entanglements, we have already seen unfold from various different angles. What is happening here is not really an exception. We've seen it before, but rarely has it been this wonderful and poignant. Playwright Celine Song, making her feature film debut, has both written and directed this subtle, and constantly vibrating masterpiece.
Past Lives is about Na Young and Hae Sung. We meet them as young kids at home in Seoul, when they are an innocently blushing couple, a boyfriend and a girlfriend. When she moves with her family to Canada, they lose touch. Many years later, they look each other up on Facebook and begin an intimate digital relationship. They are close despite the distance and can and do talk about anything. After a while, Nora (as Na Young is now called), to Hae Sung's great sadness, wants to take a break. Real life soon resurfaces, and they both begin new relationships. The feelings still remain and when they see each other many years later, their friendship is tested, but also their loyalty to their partners.
In a way, this is a classic triangle drama. The story revolves around two people, and mainly affects a third. The focus is on Nora and Hae Sung, and it is their lives and longings that we get to share, and it is them that we care about. At the same time, no drama happens in a vacuum, and their actions and choices will cast a shadow over others as well. This is a film about feelings, and about love then and now. It is also about past lives and about fate, but also about accepting what has become, and not chasing what could have been.
Song has written a story that creates shockwaves of emotion in us viewers. The film lies in wait with its seemingly unassuming style, and shoots emotional arrows at us when we least expect it. The experience is heartbreakingly sweet, honest and at the same time so painful that it tears me up inside.
At first glance, the photo is not very remarkable, but still everything is so incredibly beautiful and the color tone is pleasant. The camera makes interesting horizontal runs, as if in a circular movement, which envelops the drama, but which also carefully highlights what pulsates at its core.
The dialogue is sparse, with many, long gaps of silence. However, it is never long-winded or uneventful in these, because it is often in the silence that the drama takes place. What is not expressed in words is expressed in everything else we see, in the looks, in the awkward smiles and the intensely contradictory longing for what never was. Song relies on the power of stillness, but also on her tight acting trio of Greta Lee as Nora, Teo Yoo as Hae Sung and John Magaro as Nora's husband Arthur. They are all convincing and do everything exactly right. It's hard to explain what makes their acting so good in this, because it's really about the fact that it's not an acting we watch. They don't play, they just are. It is their presence in the situation and their trust in the story, which radiates such obviousness that it rubs off on us.
Past Lives is a fantastically fine and multifaceted film, as beautiful as it is painful and as low-key as it is explosive. As the film moves towards its inevitable end, there are questions left unexplained, but there's no rush in me to get any answers. The magic is in the enigmatic and unspoken, and when the film ends, I end so with tears in my eyes, but with a wide smile in my heart.
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