TMS Movie Review: Past Lives

(A24 Films)

Recently, we seem to have one, huge Asian produced film that breaks out each year with viewers, critics and awards ceremonies. With the way many in the film community have been going on strongly about Celine Song’s new feature Past Lives, I was expecting an intense family melodrama, like maybe Lulu Wang’s The Farewell (2019). But to my surprise, it’s actually a bittersweet romantic dramedy. This isn’t a detriment to the movie’s quality, since I’m the biggest sucker for on-screen romance. ‘The one who got away’ trope always has potential for fictional love, especially with dramas. And Song’s directorial debut delivers smoothly for those who want their heart strings pulled a little.

In 1999 Seoul, SK, Na Young (Ah Moon Seung) and Hae Sung (Min Yim Seung) are childhood best friends who also have crushes on each other. They even have one puppy love playdate before Na’s parents decide to immigrate the family to Toronto, Canada. A decade goes by before Na, now going by Nora Moon (Greta Lee), decides to randomly look up Hae (Teo Yoo) on Facebook. They briefly become active online friends before Nora suddenly ends their webcam sessions. Another decade passes before Nora discovers Hae is visiting New York City, where she and her husband, Arthur (John Magaro), are living and they decide to meet up with Hae.

(A24 Films)

Past Lives calls back to the modest, lowkey sentiments of Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise (1995), Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love (2000) and Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation (2003), and of course, David Lean’s Brief Encounter (1945) and Sydney Pollack’s The Way We Were (1973). We focus on a pair who have a short, but deep connection who also know they probably can’t make it work in the long run. It isn’t a largely profound message, but it's tender and heartwarming in the only way movies make us feel. Song is now next to Wang and Chloé Zhao as the latest Asian female filmmaker who can go on to great things if she desires, and all three actors of Past Lives put in nice performances. If one thing held me back from fully appreciating the new character piece, it was struggling to find Nora endearing during a few moments and thinking her motives for the inciting incident came off sort of selfish. But if you’re looking for something a little less action packed and truer to every day life at the moment, Past Lives could be for you.