Past Lives directed by Celine Song

105 minutes

Drama/Romance

Korean and English

5* out of 5

Formats: Blu-Ray, DVD, streaming on Kanopy

Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora's family emigrates from South Korea. Two decades later, they are reunited in New York for one fateful week as they confront notions of destiny, love, and the choices that make a life, in this heartrending modern romance.

Past Lives is a quiet film. It’s a film that allows its characters to sit and process their emotions. The dialog is almost less important than the spaces between.

Told in three parts, Past Lives is the story of Hae Sung and Nora: first as children, then as young adults, and finally as more mature adults. Exploring the Korean idea of In-Yun, a concept which says our encounters with one another throughout all of our past lives builds layers of connections between two souls. We feel the connection between these two individuals that won’t allow them to separate from each other’s lives for very long. But there’s a few complications: Nora moved to the United States and marries Arthur while Hae Sung stays in Korea and studies to become an engineer.

But what is fascinating about this film is that there is no villain. While we see the In-Yun that connects Hae Sung and Nora, we don’t hate Arthur. He isn’t in the way; and it’s hard to root against him. The In-Yun between them is rich, but we ache for something different.

Past Lives is a beautiful film that is best enjoyed on a rainy day, with a warm cup of tea, and time to process the romance and melancholy of Hae Sung and Nora’s interconnectedness that transcends time and space.

Justin