REVIEW: ‘Past Lives’ Is Absolutely Everything

We all have certain kinds of movies that just works for us every time no matter what. For me, deep, complicated relationships that actively struggle to understand how to express their love might be my ultimate kryptonite. Past Lives, the debut feature from writer and director Celine Song, is an absolutely sensational movie of such a kind. Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Loo) were childhood sweethearts until Nora moved to Canada at age 12. The two reconnect 12 years later and again another decade later. But by the third meeting, Nora is married to Arthur (John Magaro) for a long time and we are privy to every ounce of pain the three endure trying together to understand love and fate.

I am struggling immensely to put into words the sheer perfection that is Past Lives. The movie is intimate but vast. There are few characters, oftentimes confined to small spaces, and we only see but glimpses of their lives. But then wide shots of full cityscapes remind us repeatedly of the vast world of possibilities. And in this landscape of contradiction, the question the movie struggles with again and again is perhaps the greatest question people have ever asked: “What if?”

What if Nora never left Korea? What if any of the countless happenstances took place instead of the ones that did? Would any of their lives be better for it? Past Lives has a beautifully simple response to this massive question: does it matter? In a media landscape saturated with multiversal stories, we’ve become accustomed lately to seeing concrete answers to what things might look like had one factor or another been different. The answer over and over has been decidedly yes or no, things would or would not be better. Past Lives is about simply letting the question linger because in real life, without time travel or alternate dimensions, there’s simply no way to ever know. The genius of this film from the onset is that it doesn’t let you get wrapped up in the anxiety of wondering for too long because it knows nothing good can come of it.

Instead, we’re treated to long takes of cityscapes and still life. Stretches of silence and unbearably awkward pauses make certain that you’re not getting ahead of yourself wondering what might happen next or how things will end up. You’re along for a slow and thoughtful ride. But each of our three main characters endures this journey differently, and they are each so immaculately constructed and portrayed.

Hae Sung and Arthur are both very easy to read. They wear their emotions all over their faces and body language and are quite verbal about how they feel. Nora doesn’t even know for herself how she feels. There are so many incredibly uncomfortable moments in conversations where she pauses, her emotions change several times over, and you can’t tell if she’s being honest out loud or even with herself about where she lands. Audiences will find these characters relatable. I see myself so intensely in each of the three characters, both on account of my own experiences with love and being in their different shoes and my connecting to their outlooks on love, fate, and connection.

The color and grain also lend a sense of timelessness that helps make the movie feel at once especially modern and like it could take place at any point in time. As the movie progresses across time, you nonetheless still feel like you’re in the same moment in time as in the last. This frozen feeling of time adds to the movie’s sense of intimacy and overall simple but devastating emotional through line. And it all culminates in the most incredibly tense scene between the three characters sitting in a bar and coming to conclusions that could possibly end this tale. The last tracking shot will stun you, it will destroy you, and you will have no idea whatsoever which version of the “what if’s” will come to pass.

It’s impossible to heap enough praise upon Past Lives. It’s equally impossible to talk about it in too much more detail without detracting from viewers’ abilities to find their own way through the quiet storm that is Past Lives. The movie is so calm and quiet but screams with emotional depth and complexity. None of it would be possible without the perfect cast and scripting to go with each of them. Thankfully, for as challenging as the questions it asks about love and fate become, the answers are always simple in the end, even if devastating.

Past Lives is playing now in theaters.