Past Lives

Such a beautiful picture film. It has everything you want from a good movie: a cute romance, philosophy to guide the narrative, characters that feel real even if you don't get to see what they do (in his case) or barely see anything (in her case). It's as if the scriptwriters managed to weave a touching romance out of snippets, without it feeling like you're watching something unfinished.

There's this one scene where they show how time passes. I loved the cinematography behind that. Simple yet rewarding visually.

From this movie I learned that you should accept love and realise that you don't have to give up what you have for what you could have. You can accept both those feelings of love inside of you and even if it hurts, it's what I believe makes the soul feel alive.

I felt like this film touched on so many subtle, unsaid things between people: love that's lost because two people don't know how to/don't want to prioritize it, the convenience of being in some relationships, the feeling like you're saying something just because you think it's the right thing to say (especially around the people that you think need to hear it) when deep down it doesn't feel like the truth whatsoever, and going along with something because you've already committed to it instead of doing it because you want to do it. I know that's vague, but I didn't want to spoil anything, but maybe once you've seen it you'll know what I mean. It was all handled so beautifully and had such heartbreakingly sincere human experiences. I think it's safe to say that in the end, we have no effing idea what we are doing and how it will turn out, but we just hope it's the right decision in the moment.

Past Lives is a beautifully understated and emotionally resonant film about the power of love, loss, and second chances. The film follows Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), two childhood friends who are reunited 20 years after they were separated by Nora's family's emigration from South Korea. The film explores the complex emotions that arise when these two old friends reconnect, as they grapple with the choices they've made in their lives and the possibility of what might have been.

Song's direction is assured and sensitive, and she elicits outstanding performances from her two leads. Lee and Yoo are both incredibly charismatic and believable as Nora and Hae Sung, and their chemistry is undeniable.

The film's cinematography is gorgeous, with Shabier Kirchner's lens capturing the beauty of both Seoul and New York City. The film's score is also superb, with a haunting and evocative soundtrack that perfectly complements the film's emotional tone.

Past Lives is a beautifully made and deeply moving film that will stay with you long after you've seen it. It's a film about love, loss, and the power of second chances, and it's sure to resonate with anyone who has ever experienced the pain of separation or the joy of reunion.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Some of the things that I particularly liked about the film include:

The film's understated and realistic depiction of love and relationships.

The film's sensitive and nuanced portrayal of the Asian American experience.

The film's beautiful cinematography and evocative score.

The film's two lead performances, which are both incredibly charismatic and believable.

Overall, I thought Past Lives was a beautiful and moving film that is sure to stay with me long after I've seen it. I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a thoughtful and emotionally resonant film to watch.

Here is a film that looks nothing, offers a beautiful evening, full of sincerity and missed opportunity. Very well played and an irreproachable aesthetic, hard not to be touched by this feeling, that we all knew one day.

The staging fits with the passing of time, we navigate in space as we navigate in our lives, our choices, our hopes and our regrets. There is something very poetic and somewhat tragic in all this and it was difficult for me not to be touched by its final which is as simple as successful.

A film that is as touching as it is just, offering a point of view on expatriation and the roots of feelings, while offering a nice surprise on the veracity of feelings through a life and the choices that result.

Like the characters, I didn't see the time pass...

Celine Song, in her directorial debut, makes a film whose story has little to do with the usual "movies." Past Lives is true, it is not the usual love story. It is not the usual movie love story. But it is more, because it is real, because it is true, because it is drawn from the living experience of the director. And in one way in the other, all of our lives are movies, only thanks to cinema we have the power to give a different development or ending to those stories. Instead, Song chose, bravely, to be true to what seemingly seems like a "trivial" love story of two people who are separated as children and meet again after 20 years by choice and not by chance. Two people who in the generality of their life stories, look at each other, scrutinize each other and love each other. It is a story made of silences, from which the thoughts of the two protagonists arise and arrive. It is a story made of glances and behind those glances are all the unspoken words, all those emotions that words would not render. Past Lives works because it is not what one expects from a film love story. It is real life.