“Past Lives” Review
Teo Yoo (Left) and Greta Lee portray childhood sweethearts reunited years later in “Past Lives,” the incredible directorial debut of writer/director Celine Song.
In my opinion, one of the greatest romance films of all time is Richard Linklater’s “Before” trilogy. By taking on an intimate relationship over the course of three films, 18 years and all in real time, director Richard Linklater’s three films beautifully capture a couple’s connection in various stages. Now, ten years after the release of the trilogy’s final film, “Before Midnight,” writer/director Celine Song has accomplished with one film what it took Linklater three films to pull off. “Past Lives” is easily one of the best films I have seen this year and is a lovely display of the intricacies of human relationships.
In South Korea, two childhood sweethearts named Nora Moon (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) are separated when Nora’s family immigrates to Canada. 24 years later in New York City, after years of chatting online, Nora and Hae are reunited for the first time since they were children with everything being completely different. Nora is a playwright happily married to a novelist named Arthur (John Magaro) and living in New York while Hae Sung is a single engineer who is still living in Seoul. As they explore New York and pry into each other’s lives, Nora and Hae Sung contemplate what they mean to each other.
Celine Song’s script is full of beauty by taking on a complicated lifelong relationship in such an intricate way. This relationship is fairly unique for cinema as it’s not quite a romance but it’s so much more than a friendship. Song takes on this challenging dynamic with an unparalleled excellence.
With a small cast, Greta Lee, Teo Yoo and John Magaro deliver incredible performances and completely suck you into this connection. In many ways, this plot feels like a tacky Hallmark film but this film tackles the relationships Nora has in a meaningful way with captivating dialogue. At one point, Arthur acknowledges how this clichéd story would play out with him as the “evil white American husband” keeping his wife from her lost love.
Instead of taking the easy way out and making a benign romantic-comedy, Celine Song decides to focus on reality. One of the most important scenes in the film has Nora, Hae and Arthur all having a drink together at a bar and sharing a conversation with Hae Sung speaking in a combination of Korean and broken English, Arthur speaking in its inverse and Nora serving as the bridge between them. In a sequence that both warms and breaks your heart, Hae Sung and Nora hash out their entire relationship including what was, what is and what could have been.
As a backdrop, New York City is immaculately shot with cinematographer Shabier Kirchner bringing such a beautiful quality to the city while shooting on celluloid film. Despite a big location for Nora and Hae Sung to explore, there’s an intimacy to it that is all too familiar to locals.
While “Past Lives” is a fine film that treats its characters with a powerful realism, it’s the ending that makes this one of this year’s best films. Everything you think a standard romantic-comedy would do with this scenario, “Past Lives” does the opposite resulting in an awe-inspiring story that needs to be experienced as soon as possible. With so many romance films, like the underwhelming “Love Again,” being too contrived and unoriginal, it’s great when a film like “Past Lives” breaks the mold.
