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Summary Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea. Two decades later, they are reunited in New York for one fateful week as they confront notions of destiny and love, and the choices that make a life.
Directed By: Celine Song
Written By: Celine Song
Past Lives
7.8
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Summary Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea. Two decades later, they are reunited in New York for one fateful week as they confront notions of destiny and love, and the choices that make a life.
Directed By: Celine Song
Written By: Celine Song
Where to Watch
Not available in your country?
ExpressVPN
Get 3 Extra months free
$6.67/mth
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 52 Critic Reviews
94
98% Positive
51 Reviews
51 Reviews
2% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 52 Critic Reviews
94
98% Positive
51 Reviews
51 Reviews
2% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
It’s not all wide-eyed insight and romantic misery though. Past Lives is also very, very funny.
Emotionally engaging from the start, bolstered by brilliant performances and held together by Song’s understated direction that weaves timelines together flawlessly, it’s more than just good.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 327 User Ratings
7.8
82% Positive
267 Ratings
267 Ratings
11% Mixed
35 Ratings
35 Ratings
8% Negative
25 Ratings
25 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 327 User Ratings
7.8
82% Positive
267 Ratings
267 Ratings
11% Mixed
35 Ratings
35 Ratings
8% Negative
25 Ratings
25 Ratings
Such an amazing movie for so many reasons. For starters this is the first movie I've seen that actually had 2 languages used in it throughout. The movie is heartfelt & real, wasn't some fake movie love, happy story, was real emotions with what felt like real people & you just had a window into their lives & get to watch how things unfold.
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Straight off the bat, I knew this was going to be a powerful, intense and heartbreaking film. It is all of those things, as well as one of the best romance films I have ever had the pleasure of watching. The ‘in another life…’ trope has me in a chokehold, so this really hurt!! The profoundness of it all is simmering away the entire time, until all of a sudden (and I should imagine this happens at different times for everyone), it becomes so all-encompassing and incredibly moving. The subtleness and quietness of the story leaves room for the big emotions you will feel while watching because Past Lives is so romantic and beautiful. I often found myself feel both sad and uplifted while watching.
A combination of many things made Past Lives a very thought-provoking watch. Stretches of silence, long pauses, watching events unfold in real time, and lingering shots all worked in tandem to allow you to reflect and ponder on your experiences and how you can relate to what the characters are going through. The ending of Past Lives was absolutely perfect, delivering a proper gut punch. If I had to stretch to make a criticism (and it is a stretch), I would say that the aforementioned stretching of scenes can disrupt the pacing a little. For the majority it worked, but I felt that some scenes could have benefited from snappier editing.
Past Lives would not have worked if it wasn’t for the powerhouse performances from the two leads: Greta Lee and Teo Yoo. I was impressed by both of their sincerity, devotion and nuanced body language. Yoo in particular was superb at conveying such deep and complex emotions through his body alone. Lee delivered some of the more touching and devastating scenes which wouldn’t have hit as hard if it wasn’t for her magnificent talent. John Magaro was also brilliant as supporting character Arthur. If it wasn’t for his meticulous delivery he could have become the villain of the story very quickly.
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Song has crafted a deliriously honest romantic drama that is utterly singular even while it calls to mind everything from Richard Linklater to Wong Kar-wai to David Lean’s Brief Encounter. This is a movie that flows over with patience, forgiveness, and tender wisdom — qualities all the more wondrous for their relative absence from modern society and its movies.
Past Lives is not concerned with regret. It is instead a thoughtful, humane rumination on what may be fixed in personal history but remains forever fluid in the mind.
This is at once the loftiest and the most grounded love story I’ve seen in some time, a movie that feels lingering and contemplative in the moment but is over as quickly (too quickly) as a drink with a long-absent friend.
The thorny nuances of multiethnic relationships are deeply understood by Celine Song’s directorial debut, Past Lives.
There’s a disconcerting shrewdness underneath its patina of tastefulness — it’s too calculating to achieve the transcendent almost-romance it strives for but never inhabits.
Una obra que nos llama a aceptar el presente y avanzar hacia el futuro. En una época de películas sobre multiversos, esta nos invita a centrarnos en el ahora y aceptar que esto que somos siempre debimos ser.
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(Mauro Lanari)
It's fine to mention Gondry, Kaufman, Allen, Kieślowski, Howitt, but when you get to the circus of "La ronde" (Ophüls '50) I felt a little nausea. A rigorously measured and solidly dry directorial debut, but one can believe that 36 is the right age for a definitive existential assessment only with a massive dose of arrogance.
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I have a bit of a bee in my bonnet over how highly rated this movie is... Especially with all these trailers depicting an insane connection that transcends years of separation. I found the chemistry to be very lacking and thus all the yearning a bit hard to connect with, personally. There were pockets of sweet/sentimental moments but all in all I found myself holding my breath for the movie to really start.
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[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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The score and 3 lead performances were incredible and truly elevated a weak premise. Just about everything else was mid. The direction was plodding and aimless at times. The script was overly precious, cloying, and really struck me, someone whose family has also lived the Asian diaspora and left many beloved friends and family behind, as totally unrealistic. Imagine carrying the torch for 20 years for someone who clearly does not care about you the same way. It's a woman's power fantasy. The characters are lightly sketched and the viewer must fill in the blanks. Very weak script. I can't believe this was nominated for Best Picture AND Best Original Screenplay. What a joke.
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Production Company
- A24
- CJ ENM Co.
- Killer Films
- 2AM
Release Date Jun 2, 2023
Duration 1 h 46 m
Rating PG-13
Awards
Golden Globes, USA
• 5 Nominations
Academy Awards, USA
• 2 Nominations
International Online Cinema Awards (INOCA)
• 5 Wins & 8 Nominations