Our ‘what if’ moments portrayed perfectly in Celine Song’s Past Lives, seen at The Light Cinema, Wisbech
FILM REVIEW: PAST LIVES (12A)
STARRING: Greta Lee, Teo Yoo and John Magaro
DIRECTOR: Celine Song RUN TIME: One hour, 45 minutes
Every so often in life we are lucky enough to come across a piece of art – film, music or literature – that stops us in our tracks with its brilliance. Something so good that we have no hesitation recommending it to others, safe in the knowledge they will feel the same.
Produced by the A24 studio which has already put out such well-received works as Everything Everywhere All at Once, Uncut Gems, Midsommar and The Whale, Past Lives is quite simply one of the most intense, emotional and thought-provoking films I’ve ever had the privilege and pleasure to watch.
Set in three time periods, each 12 years apart, this is the story of Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends who are forced to separate after Nora’s family leaves South Korea for the United States.
Twelve years after the first parting, the pair – played with tenderness by Teo Yoo and Greta Lee (Netfilx’s Russian Doll) – reconnect through video chats. Nora is now well down her dream path towards becoming a successful writer in New York and Hae Sun is still studying and enjoying drunken nights with friends in Seoul.
The friendship soon becomes deeply important to both of them once again, but with neither of the childhood sweethearts able to travel to the other, Nora calls time on the relationship and Hae Sung, reluctantly, agrees.
Fast forward another 12 years and Hae Sung, still nursing the bruises from splitting with his long-term girlfriend, flies to New York for a few days, on the face of it for a break, but in reality to see the girl who has inhabited his thoughts for his whole life. Her career is going well and she is now married to fellow writer Arthur, played by John Magaro, who some may know from Orange is the New Black and Umbrella Academy.
After a fateful week sight-seeing in the States, where Nora and Hae Sung confront notions of love and destiny, they are joined by Arthur for a farewell meal. Arthur is no steely-eyed American villain, but a loving, kind and empathetic man who shows warmth and dignity in doing his best to accommodate such an awkward intrusion into his life.
It’s clear both men love Hae Sung, but who really shares the mythical Korean in-yeon with her?
Past Lives is beautifully filmed, with realistic dialogue and exquisite scenes perfectly portraying the agony, ecstasy, awkwardness and familiarity of real relationships. When the couple part as 12-year-olds, they quite literally do so at a fork in the road. When they finally get together again in New York, there are sometimes physical barriers such as subway train poles between them.
I don’t think I’ve ever felt as involved in a film as I did in the final moments of Past Lives, as Nora joins Hae Sung in waiting for the cab that will, quite literally, taxi him out of her life once again. That agonising 30-second wait to see what, if anything, will happen, is almost unbearable.
This movie is already the recipient of several awards since its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January and I cannot think of anything writer and director Celine Song could do to improve it. There isn’t a false move throughout. It is a romance but is never glib or twee, self-important or cringe-worthy.
Relationships and life in general are full of ‘what if’ moments and, essentially this is what the film conveys. Perfectly.
Rating: 10/10
