Launched in early 2023, Past Lives is directed by South Korean filmmaker and playwright Celine Young. It’s semi-autobiographical and it’s also her big screen debut.

What a way to start! It’s already celebrated as one of the best films of the year by critics. You can bet it’ll be an Oscars contender in 2024.

The plot? Quite simple, but very effective—two friends separated in their youth, reuniting in adulthood and pondering over a missed romantic opportunity.

Lost Loves Reunite in Past Lives

There’s a strong argument Past Lives is the best film of 2023. It’s in cinemas right now (or you can rent it for streaming). We highly recommend you give it a watch.

So, go and watch it NOW if you don’t want any spoilers.

There’s a definite Lost in Translation (2003) vibe to Past Lives. It has a breezy pace, at the start depicting the lives of 12-year-old classmates Na Young and Hae Sung. They live in Seoul, South Korea.

The pair have a crush on each other, but Na Young’s family suddenly emigrates to Toronto and that ends any childhood sweetheart possibilities.

12 years later and Na Young has changed her name to Nora Moon (she’s played by actress Greta Lee). She’s emigrated again and is now a playwright in New York.

Moon and Sung reunite over modern technology, using video calls to catch up. The calls are regular and the pair clearly start to fall for each other, but realise work commitments make it impossible for them to meet for years.

Moon then takes a writer’s retreat holiday and meets Arthur (played by John Magaro), who she falls for. The pair get married. Meanwhile, in South Korea, Sung also meets someone who likes and they start dating.

Cut to 12 years later again and there’s now a 24 year gap since Moon and Sung have seen each other.

However, he travels to New York and there’s finally a chance to catch up.

Past Lives raises the Korean philosophy of in-yun, with Nora explaining interactions between two people in the present life are owed in their past lives. The suggestion is some things just aren’t accidental and all that (“everything happens for a reason”, as some people say in the West).

Arthur is a great character. This is a progressive and welcoming man, one who’s a bit concerned his beloved wife has this childhood sweetheart suddenly rock up out of nowhere.

Arthur has a discussion with Nora and they agree to meet Sung before he heads home. Heading out for a meal, this ends with friendly exchanges and Sung invites Arthur to South Korea.

It’s a welcome depiction in a film.

We’re used to on-screen carnage between married couples (as it makes for good drama), thinking of modern examples such as Marriage Story (2019) where Adam Driver and Scarlett Johannsson are left screaming horrible verbal abuse at each other.

Past Lives’ take reminds us of Leave No Trace (2018), which highlights to viewers the generosity of strangers (as opposed to the stranger danger moral panic that exists thanks to mass media sensationalism).

In Past Lives, we’re reminded romantic challenges don’t have to end in a bloody punch up between geezers whilst a damsel in distress tries to separate the warring duo.

Instead, everyone is very reasonable and intelligent about the matter. They behave as you’d expect reasonable adults properly in tune with their emotions to behave.

On a brief tangent, these clips suggest Teo Yoo (who plays Hae Sung) can’t speak English. On the brief occasions he does, he talks with a thick Korean accent. However, the actor is actually fluent in English and three other languages. So there!

Anyway, overall the film resonated with us a great deal.

The actors are all around our age. Greta Lee and John Magaro are 40, whilst Teo Yoo is 42 (we just turned 39… we’re not in the film FYI, just flagging up the similarity). They’re youthful still in looks and attitudes.

They muse over this. How they’re still young, but no longer “babies”. All of a sudden, life has skipped and jumped forward and they’re approaching middle-age, at a cross roads with proper adulthood sprawling out ahead of them. Youth now fading away.

Nora seems to recognise this and, despite her obvious attraction (if not love) for Sung, she realises in this life she’s devoted to Arthur.

The decision does seem to cause her emotional distress, as she cries as Sung departs for South Korea (again, the final scene is reminiscent of Lost in Translation’s finale).

Past Lives is a fantastic film.

It maintains a relaxed pace as it portrays the complexities and developments of modern life. Some opportunities are lost, whilst new ones are gained, but sometimes you’re forcibly reminded of the former.

Full credit to the actors involved for their naturalistic performances, as this is all very realistic. The performances are pitch perfect.

We must also note director Celine Song’s cinematography is just stunning. We’ve never wanted to visit New York before, but after watching this film she’s made the city look quite breathtaking. Like a landscape painting.

It’s just an excellent film. What else is there to say?

The Production of Past Lives

Director Celin Song based Past Lives on parts of her life story. Song is 35 and is South Korean-Canadian. But she lives in the US.

The budget for Past Lives was $12 million, so far its box office return has been £20.2 million. This will be ongoing as the film continues to roll out in Western countries (it’s still in its cinematic run in England, for example).

It’s been nominated for all sorts of awards. We wouldn’t be at all surprised if it also goes on to win Best Film at the 2024 Oscars.

Past Lives has enjoyed universal critical acclaim. Our favourites at Kermode and Mayo’s Take certainly sun its praises.

For a directorial debut it’s very accomplished indeed and full credit to Song’s vision. There’s nothing forced or showy about this one, it simply tells the story it needs to tell.

We think this represents cinema at its best, rather than some studio-enforced panic inclusions to make the film more “entertaining”.

It’s a sophisticated weepy. And we doff our cap to it.