Korean cinema has been flourishing lately. With thanks to Academy Award winner films such as Parasite, big hit television series such as Squid Game, and then the more mainstream successes of Netflix series XO, Kitty. Seoul is a place that doesn’t get depicted enough on the big screen, and with this pattern of unprecedented material it has given filmmakers a chance to explore more of the country, the city and the culture. That brings us to Past Lives, a cross Korean American film about a young girl who immigrates away from her home country. It is a reflective film, and a deep character study into a young woman who is divided into both cultures.
Past Lives is semi-autobiographical from filmmaker Celine Song who makes her feature film debut with this film. As a result the film has this personal touch and it shows in the dialogue and performances. Greta Lee plays Nora, the surrogate for Song almost, and as a child Nora had developed a friendship with a young boy, Hae Sung, who liked her and she liked him too. After spending a date together as kids the two are forcibly separated thanks for Nora’s family who immigrates them to America. Time flies by and as an adult Nora gets back in touch with Hae Sung, now played by Teo Yoo. Obstacles start developing, such as the time zone differences, other relationships and Nora’s marriage to her American husband. The whole story is basically a “Will they, won’t they?” The dynamic shared between Nora and Hae Sung is what the film explores.
The focus is very much on character, meaning we get a lot of moments where Nora and Hae Sung are thinking, contemplating and yearning for each other. There are a lot of quiet moments where the film breathes and feels natural and authentic to the real experience of two childhood sweethearts coming back together. There is a sense of awkwardness and pensiveness between them. They clearly do like each other, but with Nora living on the opposite side of the world it makes things difficult for them to co-habitate. Nora moves on in her life, getting a good job and a good husband but it appears that Hae Sung is constantly living in the past, feeling nostalgic and regretful for most of the film.
The cities of Seoul and New York are very similar in terms of their structures and business, and it helps to show how quickly Nora has adapted to living in America. The camera shots and angles put a lot of emphasis on reflections, on close ups, showing the expressions of the characters faces and further enforcing the reflective nature of the film. It’s clearly well directed but there just doesn’t seem to be a lot of substance. The quietness of the film does tend overstay its welcome as you hope to see more of these characters lives, instead most of the film is with them sitting down or walking around the city. It won’t go making a huge impression on you, but it will help you ask questions about your past lives, and your “What if’s?”. By the end of the film, you do feel like you expected it will end the way it did and thankfully Greta Lee pulls a very intimate performance for us to feel invested in her life.
★★★☆☆
3/5
Final Verdict:
Past Lives is a reflective story and a story about, “What if?”. What if in another past life Nora and Hae Sung had married or had kids? It’s a fabled story, one that explores the connection between these two people. The two cultures, of America and Korean, perfectly symbolise the divided world that Nora leads and it is a very subdued, less is more performance from actress Greta Lee. Sadly, the film feels stuck and fixated on these two people that even though the writing is on the wall in terms of how their story will end, it just becomes progressively about regret and forgotten time. It’s an interesting film, but not one I would explore again.
Thanks for reading today’s blog!
Alex Murray, the Head of Eyesight Productions
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