In late June my friend Ana suggested I’d watch the new A24 movie, Past Lives. To this day, I’m still processing the emotions and thoughts the film evoked. Yesterday, I had dinner with a friend, Stephanie and the film came up again. We spoke of love, regret, connection, loss, and the pursuit to accept the cards one has been dealt and the cards yet to be revealed.
Past Lives follows the coming of age story of Nora (Greta Lee). The beginning of the film focuses on 12 year old aspiring writer Nora, then known as Na Young. Na Young lived a typical preteen life: worrying about school while doing life with your people. For Na Young her “people” was one person, her best friend and crush, Hae Sung (Teo Yoo). When Nora’s parents immigrated from Korea to the west the beautiful bond between Na Young and Hae Sung was severed, at least for some time.
As the film continues, we see Nora, now in her early twenties, working as a playwright in New York City. Unexpectedly, her old friend and childhood sweetheart, Hae Sung comes back into her orbit. They share inyeon — a concept that is better understood by watching the film rather than me re-presenting it hereThe bond between the two was never quite lost, just in some ways dormant. As they reconnect, we witness an intense unspoken longing: a longing for each other and for a simpler time. Nostalgia that is both sweet and gut wrenching.
It’s clear that the bond between the two was never quite lost, just in some ways dormant. As Nora and Hae Sung reconnect, we witness an intense unspoken longing: a longing for each other along and a longing for a time and space when things were simple. It’s nostalgia that is mostly sweet and occasionally gut wrenching. They share inyeon — a concept that is better understood by watching the film rather than me re-presenting it here.
One particularly uncomfortable scene, happened before Arthur(John Magaro),Nora's partner, would meet Hae Sung for the first time. He asks Nora to reflect on the live she lives now. Was her life in the states and her life with him all that she’d hope for? Nora’s response to this is unapologetically honest, brutal even.
This is the scene that has stayed with me for a few weeks. Is it better to accept what you have than to allow the breath of wonder to slip into your psyche? Is it wise to mourn what never was or what possibly could be? Should you cry even when nobody cares?
Past Lives film is a romantic drama that in some ways is your standard “right person, wrong time narrative”. Regardless of the familiarity of this kind of story, the powerful acting, the slow burn, the brutal honesty, and the existential themes explored makes this film a unique and worthwhile watch.