Past Lives: A Destiny of Love

An emotional and beautiful experience brought to us by first-time director Celine Song, “Past Lives” shows us the questions we should ask ourselves when we feel like we didn’t get something we deserved, something we craved for, hoped for. We ask ourselves the question if it is destiny, if it is luck, or if it is just the way that it happened, without influences of both. Sometimes the truth is that the thing we want the most is the thing we don’t deserve; we can’t force it to be ours, we can’t force it into our lives, but we can live with that fact and with the pain it brings us, to then carry on and learn from it. This wonderful experience, brought to us by some pieces of amazing filmmaking and acting, culminates in a story of two lives, forced to meet but never intertwine.

“Past Lives” tells us the tale of a boy and a girl living in South Korea, twenty-four years ago. We see what their relationship is, how well they get along with each other, and how even though they’re only kids, they talk about each other all the time and how their future might look. Hae Sung and Na Young, both twelve, live the life every kid would want and grow more and more towards each other. However, throughout the little segments of childish love and fun, we see that Na Young’s parents are planning other things; they wanted more for their daughters and thought that change lay in moving to the west, specifically towards Toronto, Canada. When Hae Sung heard about this the day before she had to move, feeling angry that she had to leave, he made very quick work of saying goodbye to her, to then go their separate ways.

Twelve years later, Na Young, portrayed by Greta Lee, now named “Leonore” or short and most commonly used “Nora”, moved from Toronto to New York to start her career as a playwright since she always wanted to make it big through writing. Because she was still thinking about Hae Sung from time to time, she decided to look him up on Facebook (the most popular social media 10 years ago), which to her surprise, reveals that Hae Sung, portrayed by Teo Yoo, has been looking for her as well. They connect again and decide to do a video call, where you see them visually grow closer to each other, until finally, they hit a wall which they couldn’t get around. Nora’s future is in New York, while Hae Sung’s is in Seoul, and since they’re both still growing, they decide that it’s best not to speak anymore.

But now, another twelve years later, Hae Sung decided to come to America after all, but with a lot of things changed over time, how will they connect? Will the child inside of themselves, their past lives, triumph over their current adult responsibilities and passions? Or will they realize that maybe after all, it wasn’t meant to be? Will she find that her true path lies in New York, or will she continue to only dream in Korean?

You can’t cry in New York?

Now, I know that’s not much to work with as far as a plot summary goes, but contrary to, for example, “Maestro” where I could just not tell you the story because there is none, “Past Lives” has so much story that I really would like to refrain from telling you too much. I knew very little about the movie when I started watching and it made my experience so much better, so if you’re still here and liked what you’ve read so far, go watch the movie! But to continue about the movie itself, I have pretty much no negative things to say.

The camerawork in this movie is off the charts; Celine Song created every single frame to be a painting. I’ve never seen New York look this good. There’s a lot of creativity with the framing as well, shots through different types of reflections, shots from very far away while we hear our protagonists talk to each other, the way we focus on each of their faces depending on who’s leading the topic or what topic they’re talking about. Even the scenes where they’re video calling each other, it feels like they’re in the same room. There is just beauty in every decision. Song worked together with cinematographer Shabier Kirchner to bring every scene to life, who has been working in the field for more than 10 years but now has had his big breakthrough.

I could compliment every aspect of this movie, the editing that makes sure that we always linger that little bit too long on certain frames, in a way that never feels uncomfortable but intriguing. The soundtrack carries some scenes completely and sometimes feels so small it’s almost absent; it’s always there when we need it the most, in the way we need it to be. But there are two elements we need to talk about the most, which are the performances and the directing/writing.

The performances by Greta Lee and Teo Yoo specifically, but also the other notable performance by John Magaro, are the focal point of the entire operation, the biggest cogs in the machine of Song called “Past Lives”. Every single smile, every single thoughtful gaze, even through video calling, is portrayed with such love, pain, doubt, and every single other emotion on the scale that you could call it perfect.

The emotions these characters have to deal with are unique; it is after all a unique situation, but the actors perform these emotions so well that it really feels like something that could happen. Greta Lee specifically catches your eye as you’re watching this movie; the camera is often focused on her since she’s our main character. It is her reactions we need to see and understand to understand the full story. Her facial nuances are so strong she can tell a story without saying a word; I think we can expect much bigger roles for her in the future.

Finally, let’s look at the writing of the story and the way this story is directed. The dialogue in this movie is so good that sometimes it even feels like the actors themselves are taken aback by the lines they’re saying to each other. Each word has an impact and is carefully measured. As I write this, Celine Song is ramping up awards for both her writing and directing credits on this movie, while she’s not only a first-time director, she’s a first-time writer for a motion picture (she has writer credits as a staff writer on the Wheel of Time) as well! The scene where our two protagonists meet again for the first time in 24 years is pictured with a flashback to when they were playing inside two giant sculptures of heads. With these scenes, Song tries to show us that these might be two adults that meet each other, but in fact, it is two children that missed each other dearly and can’t wait to play again, shown to be correct in the following scene, where they’re just repeating the same word towards each other over and over again, like children.

The lines she writes are filled with emotion, doubt, questions, and love; they make you feel like you’re part of the conversation and make the movie even more immersive. The dialogues the characters have with each other tell us the story of their relationship perfectly, without telling us too much, asking the right questions at the right time, and making their conclusions to each other concise and clear, which causes the movie to be very understandable even without a rewatch, which is often needed for these kinds of movies.

Like planting two plants in the same pot.

Normally, I’d look for a theme in the movies I review, but for this one, there are several that you can pick from. This is really a movie for everyone, where everyone can take a different message from. You can see this as a regular love story, where the romance between Nora and Hae Sung is the most important part of their lives. You can also see this as a story of migration and change, what that does to a person and their futures. But I think the most correct theme that this movie goes for is “Destiny.”

A term gets explained in the movie called In-Yun, which is the belief that the interactions between two people in this life are owed to interactions (or near-interactions) in their past lives. So, for example, if you are together with someone, a lot of Koreans believe that this has to do with the interactions you’ve had with this person in the past, not necessarily a relationship you’ve had with them, but an interaction nonetheless. This could often be seen as fate; if you’re meant to be with each other, you could say that it’s fated because of the interactions from your past lives, and when you have the 8000 layers, meant that you’ve interacted in 8000 previous lifetimes with this person, you’re destined to marry each other.

This story tells us a different tale; it makes this statement about the In-Yun, but then tries to mythicize this very same concept by showing us all the things that might go wrong. We meet these two children who carry so much weight with them that their adult lives feel the shockwaves carried over from this relationship, this connection that they had. The movie references past lives a lot as a metaphorical concept, the religious beliefs of your soul being reborn again and again in different bodies and leaving these lives. However, it could be seen as their different interactions in this life, where they were kids, where they found each other again and video called a lot, only to drift away again, to then find each other again after another 12 years. It plays with the notions of fate and destiny, being together with the right person at the right time… or just plainly letting things happen, finding someone you resonate with and spending the rest of your lives together, never knowing if they are your soulmate. Perhaps it’s better that way, or perhaps you need to follow that hand that guides you towards something else, out of comfort, out of normality, towards a different future, and a different life.

You can’t cry in New York?

Like planting two plants in the same pot.

Other reviews

Anatomy of a Fall (2023)

Saltburn (2023)

Maestro (2023)