A movie review and discussion by Kate O’Brien.
Last weekend I went to see Past Lives in the cinema. It was a great way to spend the afternoon.
This movie just came out, it was released on the 7th of September 2023.
It was directed by Celine Song, and the movie stars Greta Lee and Teo Yoo.
The pair play childhood sweethearts Na Young, (Nora) and Hae Sung.
The movie follows childhood sweethearts, Na Young and Hae Sung as they grow from childhood best friends to adults who must decide what they mean to each other. The movie opens with a childhood romance in South Korea, but the school friends are separated when Na Young and her family immigrate to Canada. The movie then follows the pair as they reconnect later on, then grow apart, and reconnect. The pair find each other over and over again.
This movie has a few key themes. It explores the idea of soulmates, it explores love and the many forms that love can be found in. It explores human connections and how certain people are just drawn to each other for reasons that may seem hard to explain. It also explores the clashing ideas of choices vs fate. The movie highlights the Korean philosophy inyeon, which is an idea and a belief that if people are destined to, they will meet, even if they are miles apart. The movie shares the idea that if two strangers brush past each other and they touch on the street, it was not an accident, it was because they knew each other in a past life. Whether you believe in past lives or not, whether you believe in fate or not, or in the idea of “the one,” or not, the concept is a beautiful one.
I really enjoyed the movie. It was very stylish. The pacing was slow, and warm, it felt intimate.
As an audience member, at times it almost felt like I was intruding on a private, personal conversation, which is a testament to how brilliant these actors were. The movie felt realistic without being cynical. The acting was nuanced, casual, not over the top. I believed these two people were lifelong friends, and maybe more, in another time, in another place.
The movie did have sub-titles as the two main characters speak mostly in Korean, however I personally have no issues with sub-titled movies. I never feel like it is harder to get invested, and in fact, I think it is a beautiful thing that this movie moved me so deeply, and it wasn’t even in my first language. Human connections, relationships, life’s ups and downs, all of these things are deeply understood, sub-titled or not.
This movie was very wholesome. That is the perfect word to describe it in my opinion. It made me laugh, and it made me cry. I really enjoyed the way the story acknowledged story structures and certain expectations but subverted them. Without spoiling anything, what I will say is that the trope of lifelong, childhood sweethearts is a hard one to pull off, especially if the story introduces another love interest, one who does not have the same history.
We expect childhood sweethearts to finally get married when they’re adults. The idea is a lovely one. We root for the couple who have history, who have known each other all of their lives, who have grown up together. We root for them because the idea is comfy. The thought of ending up with someone who knows us so well is a nice thought. It’s easy, but how many actually end up with their first love? We grow up, we grow apart, sometimes by things beyond our control as shown in this movie. Na Young did not want to move, but she was twelve and her family moved so she did too. We change as we grow, and sometimes while we can still love people, we grow out of them. I’m not suggesting that no childhood sweethearts ever make it work, of course there are always exceptions to every rule, but I do believe that the idea is nicer than the reality.
I appreciate the way this movie highlighted the fact that a lot of things in life happen because we make choices. Na Young, now Nora, chose to place distance between herself and Hae Sung again because she was determined to make her life in New York work and her calls, texts, and FaceTimes with Hae Sung were distracting her, and they were becoming a source of sadness since both could not visit the other for a long time, due to work commitments, finances, etc.
In order to focus, she says she wants to take a break from talking.
By doing this, her life changes again, and that change was inevitable.
Past Lives beautifully illustrated the realities of growing up and creating a life for ourselves, and the realities of how we gain and lose people in life in a very realistic way without being cynical.
This movie was an extremely wholesome, enjoyable watch, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I would highly recommend it. Sweet, funny, with just the right amount of poignancy, this movie is ideal for a rainy day.
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