Film Review — Past Lives

Greta Lee and Teo Yoo are childhood sweethearts reunited in Celine Song’s wistful romantic drama.

This slow-burn romantic drama from debut director and playwright Celine Song will prove a bit too slow for some audiences, nor will it burn hot enough for others, slowly or otherwise. Nonetheless, Past Lives is a finely directed piece of work, featuring strong performances from the central characters. It isn’t necessarily destined for greatness (despite some of the rave reviews it has attracted), but it does provide a modicum of aching wistfulness for those inclined towards this kind of unhurried lovelorn melancholia.

Opening with a deft framing device that reminded me a little of David Lean’s classic Brief Encounter, Nora (Greta Lee), Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), and Arthur (John Magaro) are seen at a New York bar from the point of view of other unseen customers. Their voices speculate as to the relationship between these three, suffice it to say, their guesses are way off.

The film flashes back 24 years to Seoul, and the adolescence of the ambitious Nora (formerly Na Young) and the more laid-back Hae Sung. We learn they are classmates and best friends developing a romantic attraction. Halcyon romantic innocence ensues in the brief, unspoken mutual confirmation of their feelings, seen in a lovely moment where they play together in a park, and later with Na Young asleep against Hae Sung in the back seat of a car, holding hands with him. Alas, Nora’s family have decided to leave Korea and emigrate to New York, with Na Young taking the name Nora for her new Western life. This leaves a heartbroken Hae Sung pining for his lost love.

Fast forward twelve years, and after military service, Hae Sung is studying engineering. At the same time, Nora has flourished Stateside, studying to become a playwright, and following in the artistic footsteps of her parents. Reconnecting online, Nora and Hae Sung become emotionally entangled once more, but both are studying, and Nora finds herself distracted from her ambitions, so asks for a break in their interactions.

Said break lasts another twelve years, during which time, Nora meets Arthur at an artistic retreat. They become romantically involved and eventually marry a little earlier than planned, as it suits Nora’s Green Card purposes. Meanwhile, Hae Sung eventually gets a girlfriend in Korea but breaks up with her, and flies to New York, determined to see Nora again. Understated emotions bubble and unrequited love is in the air.

Greta Lee and Teo Yoo have strong romantic chemistry, especially in their shared silences pregnant with pent-up emotion. Their younger counterparts Seung Ah Moon and Seung Min Yim, also contribute fine performances. In addition, John Magaro’s third wheel is given interesting and nuanced material to work with that gives depth to his compassionate but mildly insecure character.

The film’s title comes from discussions around Buddhist reincarnation traditions, with the notion that Nora and Hae Sung may have been romantically involved in their former lives. Various conversations are built around this notion that also involve Arthur. One line from the screenplay I particularly liked concerned the notion of marriage as akin to two plants forced to share one pot, competing for root space, and eventually making the necessary concessions to coexist. Beyond this, reflections on how different people bring out different aspects of one’s personality come to the fore, with Nora saying how around Arthur she doesn’t feel Korean, but she does around Hae Sung. The screenplay also briefly comments on the Korean immigrant experience in a way that feels entirely organic in terms of who the leads were to one another, and what they become.

From a directorial point of view, Celine Song makes this a strong visual calling card. One shot from Nora and Hae Sung’s adolescence, of diverging paths with Nora ascending a staircase and Hae Sung continuing along a lower path proves an obvious but emotionally affecting image. Other shots including the pair framed against New York bridges, cityscapes, and other urban imagery are also memorable, and give the piece a cinematic feel that helps shake up some of the staginess inherent in the material (it’s easy to guess Song’s background as a playwright).

Past Lives proceeds in restrained low gear throughout, but whilst it never quite attains the heartrending emotional heft of the aforementioned Brief Encounter and other films to which it is indebted (The Remains of the Day, Before Sunrise, and In the Mood for Love are three more classics that leapt to mind), it is nonetheless poignant and touching. A moving tale of what might have been, eminently relatable to those prone to unashamed musings on love as a metaphysical force.

(Originally published at Simon Dillon Books.)

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