Review: Past Lives

-


Na Young (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) grew up together in Seoul. They had a cute crush, which didn't get time to blossom before Na Young's family immigrated to Canada. Now going by Nora, on a whim she looks up Hae Sung online only to discover he's been searching for her too. They finally meet in person again, 20 years later.

This is a deeply personal story for writer/director Celine Song and it shows. Past Lives in an intimate story about immigration, starting over and long lost love. A lot of feelings are packed into this 90 minute run time and every moment is handled with care by Song.

I know "childhood crushes reunited" is not an uncommon trope. From my understanding, it's much more prevalent in Asian cinema but for me personally, this was a welcomed change of pace. Nora is married to a perfectly nice American guy named Arthur.(Joe Magaro) In another movie, one might be rooting for Nora to leave him and run away with Hae Sung. But Arthur's not a bad guy, and Nora and Hae Sung have grown to be different people. Yet, I still felt a profound sadness watching their interactions. 

There's something so pure about the two and Lee and Yoo have fantastic chemistry. Their expressions show the depth of this connection. Nora is content in her life, but seeing Hae Sung in person can't help but make her wonder what could've been. Hae Sung has come to a bit of a stand still, so Nora becomes his fantasy. All the actors are extraordinary in their roles. No drama, no fighting, just feelings.

Of course I cried at the end, which brings me to another personal gripe...turning the lights back on immediately when the credits roll. Would it kill some of these theaters to let us linger in the dark for a minute or two to compose ourselves? 

Grade: A

Comments

  1. thevoid99July 10, 2023 at 3:33 PM

    I wanted to see this but I had ran out of money at the time as it was at my local multiplex for a week and it disappeared after that. I do hope it arrives on a streaming service near me soon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJuly 11, 2023 at 7:44 AM

      I hope so too! It's so wonderful. I was worried my theater would get rid of it quickly before I could get back from being out of town, but it's still hanging on.

      Delete
  2. keith71_98July 18, 2023 at 11:54 AM

    Due to vacation I missed this film's short run at our theater which is really bumming me out. I've heard nothing but good things.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJuly 19, 2023 at 9:01 AM

      It's so good. Hopefully you'll get the chance to see it soon!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by, let's talk movies!
(comments are moderated to reduce spam)

Popular posts from this blog

Random Ramblings: The Radio Flyer Conundrum

-
Image
Recently, I was talking to someone about who I thought were the best child actors when I was also a child.  Two that really stood out to me were Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazello, and one film those two were in together was called Radio Flyer.  Then I was reminded about the uniqueness of this film. Instead of reviewing the film, I wanted to have an open discussion about the ending. It deals with a tough issue; child abuse. What I’ve noticed is the way that the film ends is interpreted many different ways, and the filmmakers never came forward to say what was right and wrong. I’m interested in hearing everyone’s opinions on it. How did you interpret the ending? Obviously spoiler alerts will follow.. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, the basic premise is this: Two young boys, Mikey (Wood) and Bobby (Mazello) move in with their single mother and her boyfriend, who refers to himself as ‘The King’. It doesn’t take long for The King to start physically abusing Bobby, and the
Read more

Indie Gems: Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

-
Image
Passionate about your profession? I had never heard of this film until it ended up on one of Jason's favorite horror movie lists around Halloween. It immediately sounded interesting to me, so of course I threw it in my Netflix queue. (and if I'm just now watching it after adding it around Halloween, you know how ridiculous my queue is) Taylor (Angela Goethals) is a journalist who, along with a film crew decides to follow around a serial killer named Leslie Vernon. (Nathan Baesel) He plans on doing the typical slasher thing - getting a bunch of drunk teens in an abandoned house and knocking them off one by one. He gets advice from a retired serial killer, Eugene (Scott Wilson) and is threatened by a man who's on to him, Doc Holloran (Robert Englund) Taylor and crew are there capturing it all. Leslie Vernon is fucking hilarious to start with, and clearly very passionate about what he does. He tells Taylor all of his secrets and can barely contain his excitemen
Read more

Please join me in my Favorite Movie Titles Blogathon!

-
Image
Earlier this week I made a post where I ran through the letters of the alphabet with my favorite movie titles. There were a few people that suggested I turn it into a blogathon, and I've never done that before. So here goes nothing! Since this is my first attempt at a blogathon, it's all pretty simple, and it's hopefully a quick post that everyone can join in. Rules: 1) Going through the alphabet, list your favorite movie title beginning with each letter.  2) You don't have to necessarily  like the movie to use it's title.  3) Use the banner at the top of this post in yours. 4) Please have submissions in by Friday, May 30th*. (But I'll be honest, if you send them to me after that date, I'll still add them to my post.) You can either leave a link to your post in the comments here or tweet it to me, ( @ramblingfilm )  Thanks everyone! :)  *I had to move the date back a week due to Photobucket threatening me with bandwidth issues. But
Read more