Past Lives: A Movie That Speaks Not Only Korean and English but The Language of Love

Directed by Celine Song, this new romantic film took viewers by storm. Set in Korea and New York City, this tale follows Nora (Greta Lee) and her family’s immigration journey from Seoul to Toronto and later, New York. In the process, she has to bid farewell to Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), with whom she would joke around, compete for the best grades, and also have a crush. They drifted apart for 12 years but never fully forgot each other. Initially, their reunion through Facebook and later video calls feels cold, stale, and awkward. That changes after a few smirks and laughs remembering their childhood together but actually, they are remembering a different life, a past life. After bouncing unmaterialized ideas of a physical meeting, they drift again before reconnecting 12 years later but now with a married Nora. The Nora Hae Sung knew 12 years prior, became yet another past life. After finally agreeing to meet in New York City, old feelings brew again.     

“Past Lives” is undoubtedly a romantic film at its core but by the director Celine Song and cinematographer Shabier Kirchner’s craft, this movie explores so much more than unresolved childhood loves. Song takes inspiration from her own life to ooze out one of, it not, the best romantic films in 2023. Watching this movie feels like when you are at a wedding and you are aware of how you change when interacting with people from both families; a part of you connects with your cousins, then you see an old friend and buried emotions spring out or maybe you meet a stranger and things are a bit cold. At the end, by the end of the night, you are still you; you have always been you but throughout the night, you showed different parts of you, stemming from various periods of your life. That is why I believe Song meant when she said “While I was sitting there between two men, I actually felt beyond translating between two languages and two cultures, I was also translating between two parts of myself”.

At the inception of her directorial career, Song surprised everyone and took a strong grip on the reigns. With previous work as a writer in Amazon’s TV series “The Wheel of Time”, it should come as no surprise that writing has been one of her best attributes. “Past Lives” exquisitely shows the splendid precision of her writing in creating Nora and Hae Sung's dreamy world within the external world. With numerous moments like the playful scenes in early Korea, long Skype calls in opposite sites of the world, and their long-overdue New York reunion, their world is protected by flirty comments, burning questions longing for years, and the exploration of In-Yun between them. However, maybe most impressive, is the tenderness in the writing to guide unspoken dialogue between scenes; the unspoken impulses, the what ifs, the piercing and never-ending stares between them. Most notably, the ending scene is a testament to both her exceptional writing and directing. 

As romantic and tender as this movie aims to be, it also has a different perspective, with similar importance and weight. If Led Zeppelin had “Immigrant Song”, “Past Lives” has ‘Immigrant Movie’. The parallel exploration of how difficult it is to leave a whole world behind and how much is lost in the process. For Nora, Hae Sung represents that loss. He is the life that she could have had, had she not left. He is the part of her that both ties and repels her from Korea and says, ‘This how your Korean life would look like’. But as much as something is lost, other things are gained such as Nora’s mom says “If you leave something behind, you gain something, too.” Hae Sung constantly playfully teases her that whatever she wanted to gain was never in Korea; and that Korea is not big enough for her ambitions. This hits both literally and emotionally because Nora justified the move to the West to win prestigious awards and accolades for her work but also suggests that maybe the In-Yun between them was never within grasp and curiously enough, they both find romance in external relationships when they weren’t part of each other’s lives.

“Past Lives” is an impressive directorial debut from Celine Song that weaves great emotional and romantic writing with a personal duality created by a decision that thousands of people around take, to immigrate to another country in search of gaining something. Surely another Song feature is already in the works and could be yet another intriguing filmmaking offer from a fresh and talented new director.