Review: Past Lives (2023)
Written and directed by Celine Song
Past Lives (2023)
Written and directed by Celine Song
In this first feature from director Celine Song, Greta Lee stars as a Korean-American who emigrated from Seoul at age 12. Her character Seung Ah leaves behind a boy from her class at school, Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), just as they have started a close friendship. Twenty or so years later, she's a playwright in New York, married to another writer, and he's an engineer. He's been carrying a torch for her during the intervening years and finally goes to New York to see her in person.
What happens: they spend a day together, then the next evening go to dinner with her husband. What doesn't happen: an angry scene of jealousy. After the film, I overheard a couple talking about the movie. Speaking of the husband character Arthur (John Magaro), the guy pointed out that he was written to be cool about the reunion, that he's understanding; he gives his wife (called Nora now) and Hae Sung time and space to talk things out. "He doesn't get angry and break a glass, or something," the guy said. True, but we've seen that movie so many times; it's refreshing to see a character make a different choice.
It's certainly true that Teo You, who I'm guessing is a star in Korea just based on his beauty and his long list of credits in IMDB, is extremely handsome. By contrast, Arthur is a little sloppy -- you can see that beard never looked good on him -- even a little bit schlumpy. He also has sensitive emotions. A film with these characters could easily be about how Nora regrets marrying him, if his character were made to be just a little bit mean or unloving, so that when Hae Sung shows up, she goes off with her soulmate. But we've seen that movie many times, too. Instead, the script is even-handed and doesn't make anybody the bad guy. The characters seem freer to be themselves and make choices viewers can relate to.
Some viewers will see this movie because they recognize Greta Lee from her appearance with Natasha Lyonne in the Netflix series "Russian Doll" (in which her character exclaims "Sweet birthday baby!" at least a dozen times), and they won't be disappointed, because Lee proves she has the presence and ability to lead a film. Her character's a lot more ordinary than the weirdo she plays in "Russian Doll," but here she is stately and gorgeous and has real gravitas. She can move beautifully just walking up the street.
This is a quiet movie with a very simple narrative. The relationships between the characters are really the whole thing. I found it a little thin compared with another recent film about a Korean emigrant, Davy Chou's unpredictable, amazing "Return to Seoul." But "Past Lives" is satisfying and moving.
The film is playing art houses and just became available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video.