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Not quite there...
This one was suggested by a friend who is more into occidental movies. I had my fear as it looked more occidental than Korean. Director is canadian and yes, you can tell she's been living way longer in Canada than in Korea. So the movie is put toghether more like an american indie movie than a korean one.Story had potential, but it has many gaps and silences that are considered to be aesthetic in western indie movies. The long silence scenes with dull scenery do not add to this equation. Not even the soundtrack. I respect some japanese movies where they do sort of the same, but theirs are poetry somehow.
There is only one meaninful scene between main characters but it takes less than 5 minutes. I actually fall sleep before that as the pace was really slooooow. Oscar nominations? I'm way over the pedo academy awards.
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Life is a series of choices, fate, destiny exist but it’s all about the choiceThe age confused me, they were 12, met again in 24 years which means they should be 36, even if it was only 20 years, they’d be 32, but he was in uni? And she was acting like a teen bubbly airhead🤣
And they remet in 12 more years so, 44/48?
By their behavior in life I’d have assumed it was 12, 21 and 35/40
Yoo teo presented the changes really well, he can project a cute gentleness of the second part
And fl she looked younger in the third part, a side part hair fits her perfectly
Alex? Already forgot his name, he had a good heart but dang he felt so average, not looks but personality and in ways that’s why she chose him, he would do anything for her, would he have a breaking point tho? Anyone would.
Anyway, this was like 2521, love and soulmate isn’t enough to make a relationship work. Long distance relationships aren’t just about physical distance, it’s about culture, routine, and the habitat one is used to, I personally can never leave my home
She wanted him to follow her life choices and move to new York while he also had his own steps he chose, he was her reminder of “home and belonging”, and she was his what if
Maybe he wouldn’t have regretted moving for her, isn’t love and passion a blink of an eye choice, she certainly wouldn’t have felt comfortable again in Korea
I wish the scene they ignored the husband in the bar was done differently like he left to give them space to talk rather than them ignoring him
Idk maybe it highlights his acceptance that that was closure, my personality would not handle that well 🤣 I’d have left the next day😆
Tbh I wanted them to end up together, idk it felt simple, get rid of Alex 🤣 he certainly wavered that he was in competition with, but Nora did always have “open minded” set to the point mindset
She loved him but she wasn’t madly in love with him which does make sense for both, a kid’s admiration, turned into a what if but that was 34 years of living their lives
If it was hard to live without one another, either one would’ve made a move, even if it was just a weekend visit
Is love dead? I just want pure love storiesT_T
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Angst!!!
Honestly I wasn’t expecting this movie to be so short and have such an abrupt ending.I think it definitely should’ve been a bit longer and the ending should’ve been more solid.
The story between the two main characters completely broke my heart, the fact that they both spent years yearning for each other and never getting together…
The tension between them whenever they were alone..I felt a bit guilty for the husband, he could tell his wife also felt something towards her childhood sweetheart.
Really broke my heart…even if the movie seemed short, it tugs on your heart. They both wanted each other but couldn’t. Heartbreaking and bittersweet. No matter who they end up marrying in the end, they will always have each other in each others hearts.
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"What if..."
The worst pain of all is that feeling of "what if", you can't get over something that never really happened.I understand and feel for all the characters in this movie. Every word left unsaid, every insecurity, every feeling not explored is completely understandable and it pains to think that not one of them will get to sleep with a clear head anytime soon.
I loved it. All the conversations very realistic and the lingering feeling of uncomfortable moments.
Perfection!
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"who you are [to me] is someone who leaves....to Arthur you're someone who stays"
I started crying at the point (1/2 way) when Teo Yoo's character, Hae Sung, enters the lobby of a NY hotel on a quixotic quest to meet his first love, Nora Moon. The soundtrack kicks into high gear with slowed chords and intense swelling volume. The flashbacks previous to this had simply the discreet continuous background hum of NY, Seoul and Toronto which is never bothersome. After abt 20 minutes points of music begin to well up through it , starting while HS is on his military service.Great movies have a series of carefully framed and placed lines which reverberate backwards reinterpreting the scenes beforehand, and forwards to color what is to come. To quote them is often to misinterpret or spoil a movie, so I use one to just point to the frame of the story, only a very mild spoiler.
The lines above are from the very first scene of the movie, but they are unheard until the scene is played out in realtime later. Hae Sung sits at a bar in NY with Nora and her husband Arthur Zaturansky, the night before HS returns home to Seoul. He and Nora chat casually in Korean, using references to drama plotlines to knit together their different understandings and feeling,s about their meetings and partings, now and in the past. Arthur can only vaguely follow their conversation, but he (graciously) trusts Nora and I think partially understands that a continuing friendship that includes him might exist.
Because both Nora and Arthur are writers, HS's interactions with them are both more and less perilous. More because imaginary scenarios have the emotional power to destabilize emotions, but less because a writer's curiousity confers a sort of double vision of recording and thinking about lived emotions while experiencing them, which slows reaction times. Teo Yoo's emotions (as HS) wash across his face but Greta Lee's face (as NM) catches light while she looks at him and we think -- is he flirting, does she resist it, what are these feelings? The movie is in English, and she is the POV, the way we see HS. As viewers of kdrama the juxtaposition of the felt lives of Korea and the US hurts to watch, just as within Nora Moon the collision of her past and present hurts.
Teo Yoo is an interesting actor in that he is fully bi/tri lingual, and intelligently so -- it makes him especially able to navigate these cross-cultural scripts. The soundtrack was composed by two members of a band called the Grizzly Bear -- why do I know this? Because I was sure the composer/sound editors had to be Korean, they were so dominantly in emotional control, so I looked them up and they werent. The cinematography is gorgeous. My favorites: a Staten Island Ferry ride, the bar scene and the flashbacks to childhood in Seoul where the mess of electrical lines above the streets reminds me of the innocence of 2006 Seoul in One Fine Day.
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It Really is Complicated!
Geez, was I big relieved that this movie ended at the point at which it ended. I was sitting on the edge of my seat praying that a line wouldn't be crossed. What a relief!Let's get the admin out of the way. The directing was impeccable, the script flowed logically, the cinematography very catchy and satisfying in the sense that you got a good grounding on both international locations and the living conditions. The casting was just as great because the actors met the characters where they were and they delivered brilliantly. I know the male lead from other productions and I didn't feel at any moment that they slipped out of character. That was satisfying to see as it meant full immersion into the story could be achieved.
The characters themselves were complicated; these were not easy people to watch. The young years revealed to me what I felt were character flaws in the sense that one was willing to give beyond what was required and the other took without reservation. This they carried into adulthood and such imbalances frequently lead to resentment. The immigration was difficult for her. We see the struggle to integrate, there are language challenges and although this is not her decision and what is happening is out of her control, she clings to what she knows - hard work and a possible dream. In that process she abandons who she imagined herself to be and is hyper driven by ambition. He makes an attempt to move on, but is held back by the promise made by memories.
Twelve years later, married to a Jewish man and living in the East Village, his visit is a resurrection of the little girl who left South Korea and I don't think the memories are welcome, but in the same breathe they cannot be disputed. So, this creates this state of limbo where the husband is a reflection of what is present and real and the male lead represents loss and an identity she would rather not deal with. There's almost this push and pull between how far back South Korea is and yet how unreachable New York is.
I was struck by the maturity of the husband and brought to feel that this is a reflection of how relationships should be. Not afraid to show vulnerability, not afraid to ask questions and not afraid to sit quietly and wait for the whirlwind to pass. There's also the recognition that our beginnings are not the same; we carry the differences even today, but there's a point where we can meet each other and create something warm and new and wholesome together. However, there's this threat hanging over everyone's head called destiny. The husband feels in the middle because in many ways, he's a romantic. They themselves are grappling with how much control to give to destiny. Should we allow destiny to dictate the direction of our present lives or recognise that perhaps our story is for another lifetime past or in the future.
I strongly recommend the movie if you are into all things Korean, but also all things English.😁😁
A mature, romantic drama that showcases just how complicated human beings truly are. Thank you to the Bestie for the recommendation🥰. This was completely off my radar.
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A realistic and engaging film.
A "down-to-earth" story that anyone can relate to: two childhood friends who reconnect years later.As a fan of romantic comedies and Korean dramas, of course I rooted for them to end up together. But, being a reflection of real life, things are not that simple.
Time passes, feelings change, as do our goals. As the protagonist says: the girl he knew existed, but was left behind, back in Korea.
The whole plot raises that uncomfortable question: what if...?
It's a great movie, but with a melancholic tone, precisely because it reflects reality.
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A completely perfect movie about love!
Past Lives is a rare love film, touching with its adorably simple visual language and accurate, but few-worded dialogue. The silence in this drama is more telling than spoken words could ever be.Love theme on film is about as worn out as a book on the bookshelf. Most varieties of complications and other entanglements, we have already seen unfold from various different angles. What is happening here is not really an exception. We've seen it before, but rarely has it been this wonderful and poignant. Playwright Celine Song, making her feature film debut, has both written and directed this subtle, and constantly vibrating masterpiece.
Past Lives is about Na Young and Hae Sung. We meet them as young kids at home in Seoul, when they are an innocently blushing couple, a boyfriend and a girlfriend. When she moves with her family to Canada, they lose touch. Many years later, they look each other up on Facebook and begin an intimate digital relationship. They are close despite the distance and can and do talk about anything. After a while, Nora (as Na Young is now called), to Hae Sung's great sadness, wants to take a break. Real life soon resurfaces, and they both begin new relationships. The feelings still remain and when they see each other many years later, their friendship is tested, but also their loyalty to their partners.
In a way, this is a classic triangle drama. The story revolves around two people, and mainly affects a third. The focus is on Nora and Hae Sung, and it is their lives and longings that we get to share, and it is them that we care about. At the same time, no drama happens in a vacuum, and their actions and choices will cast a shadow over others as well. This is a film about feelings, and about love then and now. It is also about past lives and about fate, but also about accepting what has become, and not chasing what could have been.
Song has written a story that creates shockwaves of emotion in us viewers. The film lies in wait with its seemingly unassuming style, and shoots emotional arrows at us when we least expect it. The experience is heartbreakingly sweet, honest and at the same time so painful that it tears me up inside.
At first glance, the photo is not very remarkable, but still everything is so incredibly beautiful and the color tone is pleasant. The camera makes interesting horizontal runs, as if in a circular movement, which envelops the drama, but which also carefully highlights what pulsates at its core.
The dialogue is sparse, with many, long gaps of silence. However, it is never long-winded or uneventful in these, because it is often in the silence that the drama takes place. What is not expressed in words is expressed in everything else we see, in the looks, in the awkward smiles and the intensely contradictory longing for what never was. Song relies on the power of stillness, but also on her tight acting trio of Greta Lee as Nora, Teo Yoo as Hae Sung and John Magaro as Nora's husband Arthur. They are all convincing and do everything exactly right. It's hard to explain what makes their acting so good in this, because it's really about the fact that it's not an acting we watch. They don't play, they just are. It is their presence in the situation and their trust in the story, which radiates such obviousness that it rubs off on us.
Past Lives is a fantastically fine and multifaceted film, as beautiful as it is painful and as low-key as it is explosive. As the film moves towards its inevitable end, there are questions left unexplained, but there's no rush in me to get any answers. The magic is in the enigmatic and unspoken, and when the film ends, I end so with tears in my eyes, but with a wide smile in my heart.
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filme do ano
eu não consigo achar outra palavra para definir esse filme que não seja lindo. é tudo absurdamente lindo, os diálogos, os paralelos que são construídos ao longo da história, toda ambientação e fotografia.eu sinto que as maiores emoções do filmes estão nas cenas silenciosas onde se pode pensar sobre o que tá acontecendo. as cenas da nora e o hae conversando em frente ao carrossel e depois no bar são absurdas pois é possível enxergar todo o carinho e amor que perdurou por tantos anos. é meio inevitável o sentimento de tristeza mas eu não acho que ele seja resultado de uma frustração mas de um sentimento de "e se?"
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a beautiful and thought-provoking piece of cinema.
Past Lives is a captivating tale that delves deep into the complexities of rekindling old connections and navigating the ever-evolving dynamics of life. The film's premise revolves around Nora, who articulates the essence of her journey perfectly – a childhood friend from 24 years ago reduced to a mere image on her laptop 12 years later, only to emerge as a flesh-and-blood person once again.The narrative subtly explores Nora's magnetic pull towards this long-lost friend, accentuated by her profound yearning for her hometown, Seoul. Their separation and eventual reunion rekindle a flood of memories and emotions, making us ponder whether their different cultural backgrounds and life circumstances will allow them to be together.
Past Lives elegantly unveils the perpetual struggle of life, the ever-present dilemma of sacrificing something dear for the promise of something new. Nora is forced to confront these choices, adding layers of depth to the storyline.
What sets this film apart is its masterful use of dialogue, which feels incredibly genuine and relatable. The characters are brought to life with nuance, and the cinematography, though understated, carries an aesthetic charm that enriches every scene.
It is a beautiful and thought-provoking piece of cinema. It serves as a reminder that life is a continuous journey of self-discovery, woven with the delicate threads of past connections and the decisions we make along the way. This film, with its simplicity and engaging narrative, is a gem to behold.
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