"Past Lives" review — Celine Song's debut is delicate, tender, and intimate
“It’s true that if you leave you lose things, but you also gain things, too.”
This film was featured on my Best Films of 2023 list.
If you brush a stranger’s sleeve in a crowded room, is it destiny? If two souls fall in love, were you always destined to be together? Are our connections determined by who we were in our past lives? These are the questions that Past Lives, the debut feature by writer/director Celine Song, deals with. The film borrows from the Korean Buddhist idea of “in-yeon” (also often romanized as “inyun”), which refers to the recurring connections of certain souls through cycles of reincarnation. The deeper the connection you make with someone, the more karma is bringing your souls together. This question of fate is at the heart of Past Lives, which centres around two people whose lives keep intersecting but can never settle in the same place at the same time. Nora, the film’s protagonist, brushes off the concept at one point, saying that it’s just something Koreans say to “seduce someone.” But the existentially haunting question of “what if?” never leaves her mind.
Past Lives debuted at Sundance earlier this year to near-universal acclaim. While it premiered out of competition, it was still one of the festival’s most talked-about films with some prophesying that it will reign among the year’s best, a notion that I very readily agree with. The film first took to limited theatres throughout the United States four weeks ago and has been slowly expanding each weekend. Finally, Past Lives arrives in a wide release here in Canada. Having seen the film after waiting for the past six months, it is immediately apparent what makes it such a compelling drama and an incredibly remarkable debut.
Past Lives is a slow, carefully paced film. Its takes are long and infrequently cut. It uses silence more than dialogue to convey meaning. One of the most powerful moments of the film is a scene of two characters staring at each other on a sidewalk, unsure of what to say. Song’s most obvious point of reference in the construction of Past Lives is the work of Kelly Reichardt and her school of “neo-neo realism,” to borrow a term from A. O. Scott. She uses these long takes to hypnotically pull the audience into the narrative, never rushing through the beats but letting us relax into the real world of the characters. It’s a wonderfully realized film with stunning performances, a sophisticated screenplay, and an unforgettable, poignant ending.
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| Greta Lee and Teo Yoo in Past Lives. Photo: A24. |
The film begins with a slowly zooming, unbroken shot of our three main players — Nora (Greta Lee), Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), and Arthur (Joe Magaro) — sitting at a bar talking. We don’t hear what they’re discussing. Instead, the scene is narrated by another couple sitting across the bar from the trio trying to deduce what is going on. “I wonder who they are to each other?” asks the unseen female narrator. With that, Song sends us back in time to Seoul, South Korea, 24 years ago. We are introduced to the younger versions of Hae Sung and Nora (then known by her Korean name Na Young), good friends with an academic rivalry and a grade-school unspoken crush on each other. But their childhood infatuation is cut off short when Na Young’s family emigrates to Toronto, Canada. 12 years later, Na Young, now Nora, is living in New York City and working as an up-and-coming playwright. Nora and Hae Sung reconnect on a primitive form of Facebook. They begin to chat over Skype frequently and their chemistry is immediately apparent. But the only problem is that the two are stuck on other sides of the world. They dream about visiting each other. They are frequently looking up ticket prices, scrutinize their budgets, and see if they can align their schedules. But, the more they talk and dream and plan, the more obvious it becomes that they are dealing with nothing more than empty dreams.
But eventually, Nora decides to end their digital friendship. She’s happy with her life in New York, and her conversations with Hae Sung are only making her want to return to a home she never really knew. This leaves Hae Sung rather distraught, having lost his friend for a second time, but he comes to accept it. Slowly, the two move on once again. 12 years later, Nora is now married to Arthur, another writer whom she met at a retreat. They are doing well for themselves. Nora is in rehearsals for her latest play and Arthur has just released his latest book. One day, Nora gets an unexpected message from Hae Sung: he’s coming to New York. With Hae Sung in the Big Apple, Nora starts showing him around the city as the two reconcile with the weight of their lives and what the future may hold for them.
This minimalist narrative is written to absolute perfection by Song. Her script is a delicate, mature, and bittersweet thing of beauty. The most refreshing move Song makes is to make these characters remarkably mature people, something that removes many of the cliches of the romance genre but leads to a more emotionally rich experience. Nora and Hae Sung’s relationship is one of deep desire, yet frequently complicated by the impossible circumstances of their lives. Nora and Hae Sung are perfectly aware that any prospect of a future together would be almost entirely impossible, but that longing is still felt. Song’s writing of Arthur pushes back against the stereotypes of jealous lovers, creating a character who is protective yet trusting. The viewer is inclined to like all three of these characters and all three of these characters like each other, which makes its emotional material so complicated.
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| Greta Lee and John Magaro in Past Lives. Photo: A24. |
The three lead performances are all fantastic yet understated, perfectly building upon Song’s written material. Greta Lee delivers a great leading performance as Nora. Lee finds a great line between confidence and insecurity, with Nora being fully aware of how good her life is while also contemplating what other futures might be waiting for her outside of New York. Teo Yoo’s Hae Sung is a mournful, regretful presence. He’s burdened by his perceived failures and a life he finds meaningless. But he’s conflicted about upending Nora’s, which is going so well for her. John Magaro handles Arthur’s complicated emotions quite deftly. He is understanding and empathetic yet concerned about Hae Sung’s sudden return to Nora’s life. All three of these performances are incredibly subtle, a strength that the film carries through every aspect of its design. Past Lives relies on subtlety to infect its viewer. Its emotions are never overstated but come in quiet, powerful doses. By the end of the film, the viewer is left in a swirl of powerful emotions that creep up slowly and carefully. The effectiveness of this trick is thanks to Song’s skills as a writer and a director and the performances of her players.
The work of cinematographer Shabier Kirchner, known for his work on Steve McQueen’s Small Axe anthology, is one of the film’s best parts. Shot on 35mm, Past Lives is captured with warm lighting and a friendly, nostalgic grain. Kirchner’s close-ups are particularly excellent, creating a profound sense of intimacy with the characters. The framing is clever and distinctive, tender and sparse. The film has so much personality. Song’s direction has such a personal flavour and a distinct voice. While it recalls memories of her influences, Song is very much doing her own thing here as well, leading to a film that feels so special and so one-of-a-kind.
Past Lives is the story of good people trying to make the best decisions for themselves and for the people they love. Like all of the best films, Past Lives gives no easy answers. What we are left with is a simple and bewilderingly effective drama of love, desire, destiny, and life circumstances beyond the control of its characters. In its emotional conclusion, it leaves more questions than it answers. What is our fate? Who are we destined to be? Who are the people we are destined to intersect with again in our lives? Perhaps our cycles of in-yeon will have us meet in the next life. But we won’t be around to see it.
Past Lives is now playing in theatres everywhere.
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