Past Lives (2023)

June 2, 2023 (US) • Drama, Romance • 106m

Overview

After decades apart, childhood friends Nora and Hae Sung are reunited in New York for one fateful weekend as they confront notions of destiny, love, and the choices that make a life.

Director

Greta Lee

Keywords

new york city immigrant friendship nostalgia woman between two men interracial marriage fate playwright married woman childhood friends semi autobiographical woman director korean american childhood sweethearts memories dreary korean asian american independent film seoul, south korea

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Reviews

Brent Marchant

⭐ 4/10

June 10, 2023

As the son of parents who were childhood sweethearts/soul mates, I tend to be a sucker for movie romances that address this subject. In this case, however, the only “sucker” aspect applies to the money I plunked down to watch this two-hour snoozefest. Writer-director Celine Song’s debut feature has been praised as a masterful piece of filmmaking and one of the best pictures of 2023, but I heartily beg to disagree. When a pair of young, tightly knit Korean friends, Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), part ways from their native Seoul and are later reunited in New York after a 24-year separation, the reunion of these childhood pals provides them with an opportunity to reflect on what might have been. However, their time together consists mostly of a series of overly bloated pregnant pauses, inane dialogue and missed chances to discuss much of anything meaningful, the kinds of scenes that make even the most patient viewers want to yell “Get on with it already!” These “conversations” come nowhere close to matching their joy of their spirited youthful interactions or the heartfelt, substantive talks that later take place between Nora and her husband, Arthur (John Magaro). The result is, quite frankly, a big fat bore that’s trying to be more than it is but never achieves that outcome. Perhaps the biggest problem with this is the film’s truly sincere but decidedly paper thin narrative that doesn’t have the writing support to bring it all into beautiful full bloom, despite some fine performances, exquisite cinematography and an emotive background score. From this, the director would appear to have a hefty reserve of potential stashed away, at least based on this offering’s stylistic elements, but the substance could use some definite shoring up. Let’s hope her next effort lives up to that.

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badelf

⭐ 9/10

August 26, 2023

Wow. For a director, Celine Song, just coming out of the gate, this is quite an impressive film. The lead actress, Greta Lee, fit the role like a soft leather glove, which speaks volumes, both for her talent, and for Song's casting. Lee's Hollywood Critics Association Best Actress award is well-deserved.

Song wrote an excellent screenplay, and her direction turned it into a stunning film. Kudos to A24 for taking a chance on her. I presume they… read the rest.

CinemaSerf

⭐ 7/10

October 22, 2023

"Na Young" (Moon Seung-ah) and her best pal "Hae Sung" (Leem Seung-min) are pretty much joined at the hip at school. They do everything together. That is, until her family decide that they are going to emigrate to Canada. The young lad is a bit bereft, he doesn't really understand and he certainly doesn't approve! Anyway, off they go and after quite an hiatus, she discovers that he had tried to get in touch previously and so she now gets in conta… read the rest.

BornKnight

⭐ 10/10

January 28, 2024

An american A24 very adult romance and drama movie that gets in you little by little, slow burning with a gentle flame and involves more than just love, but personal choices and fate too.

Compared to a lot of romances this one is very real, and tells the story of two korean child, that lives closely together in their 12yo in sort of a "proto-date" till she emigrate to Canada and then US, already searching better changes at what she planned to … read the rest.

Cinema_Snobb

⭐ 10/10

July 16, 2024

Celine song directed this wonderful and emotionally complex film about holding on to the past no matter how fleeting it is.

Ha Young is a young girl living in Korea. She has a crush on a boy at school named Hae Sung.

The time comes when her family is immigrating to Canada. It is devastating to young Hae, who is going to miss his friend.

Twelve years go by and Ha is now living in New York City and goes by the name of Nora. One day while b… read the rest.

r96sk

⭐ 9/10

September 15, 2024

<em>'Past Lives'</em> - quality!

It's an engaging watch, I was invested in the two main characters throughout. It does get, by design, extremely awkward at a certain moment towards the end, as I was squirming in my seat; shows how well made it is. Greta Lee and Teo Yoo are excellent, John Magaro plays his more minimal part well too.

I don't have much else to note, it's simply an impressively made movie.