‘Past Lives’ movie review: Celine Song’s beautifully flawed debut
2023 has already shaped up to be quite a year for cinema, both at the mainstream level as well as the film festival circuits. In addition to the massive commercial success experienced by the Barbie vs. Oppenheimer that got a lot of people to revisit the theatre experience, major festivals like Cannes also showcased works by important artistic voices like Aki Kaurismäki and Wim Wenders. While all of this was going on, Celine Song’s debut feature Past Lives managed to reach the middle of this spectrum.
Having premiered at Sundance at the beginning of this year, in many ways, Past Lives set the tone for the rest of the cinematic calendar. Among the latest to join A24’s 2023 roster, Song’s quiet drama revolves around two childhood lovers in Seoul who are separated by the completely different circumstances of their lives. Na Young’s (played by Greta Lee) family moves to Toronto, while Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) follows a pretty typical trajectory in South Korea.
What makes Past Lives interesting and separates it from the rest of the uninspired romantic flicks revolving around this theme is that Song’s questions are always profound. Launching an immersive investigation into the immigration experience, the film evaluates how cultural identities constantly morph and how they define our relationships. This is primarily carried out through Lee’s portrayal of Na Young, who later becomes a writer in New York City and changes her name to Nora.
Shabier Kirchner’s cinematography attempts to capture silence, evident in Nora’s reunion with Hae Sung decades after the two saw each other for the last time. As she takes him around New York, the city only acts as a picturesque background because it’s actually the landscape of lost memories that the two of them are traversing. Those moments of silence that punctuate their conversations are more revealing than anything they can say to each other.
Building on tangents about cultural disconnect, the evolution of individual identities and alienation from one’s heritage, Past Lives is less of a love story and more of a meditation on the ontological consequences of immigration. For Nora, Hae Sung isn’t just a signifier of first love but also an idealised symbol for the life she left behind and her cultural history. In contrast, John Magaro does a fantastic job as Arthur – Nora’s American husband, who tries his best to learn about her culture but is permanently limited by invisible cultural thresholds.
The silence of lost love, of an unshakeable but forbidden connection, of erased identities and discarded memories forms the philosophical foundation of Past Lives. However, Kirchner’s visual language isn’t adequately equipped to handle such a deafening silence. The images feel artificial and two-dimensional, almost as if they were designed to only look good in trailers. The cinematography cannot sustain the silence, which is why it is easy to mistake it for emptiness.
It’s true that this marks the beginning of a potentially fascinating artistic career for Song, but to call Past Lives anything more than a beautifully flawed launchpad would be misguided.
Watch the trailer below.
