Past Lives

Story: After settling in another country, Nora reconnects with her childhood friend Hae Sung and the two make plans to meet each other.

Review: The plot revolves around Greta Lee’s character Nora whose family migrates to the US. As a young girl back in Korea, she’s highly competitive with her classmate Hae Sung, who walks home with her from school every day. As they become geographically distant, Nora decides to reach out to Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) years later. Further down in time, they meet in New York, where Nora has settled in with her husband, Arthur (John Magaro).

Director Celine Song draws out subtle performances in a screenplay that often feels too stretched out, even dragging at points. However, she meticulously puts critical beats in place, gradually allowing these characters to draw the audience into their worlds. The camera work also adds to this notion, giving us an unsparing perspective of their lives with scenes that often make you wonder where it’s all going. The first two acts have a lot of these moments, but they build up to a tense climax, which is painstakingly shot and acted.

Greta Lee is more prominently featured, and she seamlessly transitions from a New Yorker adapted to an American lifestyle with her core grounded in Korean ways. Teo Yoo is adept as Hae Sung, who, despite his career growth, is emotionally stuck in the past. John Magaro’s Arthur has the tough challenge of witnessing the deep-rooted dynamic between Nora and Hae Sung, and he lends a measured and mature perspective as an outsider.

‘Past Lives’ believes in the power of silence and what’s said without being spoken. There’s a sense of time and space created by its director and performers that’s vital to the third act when they all come together to make it make sense. As a result, ‘Past Lives’ is certainly not for those seeking a thrilling, escapist romantic story. The immense payoff demands patience in a living, breathing entity with painfully real characters. It is an honest introspection that explores gut-wrenching concepts of regret and destiny, asking us to ponder the consequences of choices.