Past Lives (2023)

This was a beautiful poem of a film regarding the complexities that come with idealized vs practical love interests. Best described with the term “In-Yun,” the thought of living amongst lovers in different past lives is both lovely and terrifying. What would you do if you encounter that “one who got away” after establishing a long-term relationship with someone else? 

It was nice to see Arthur painted in a decent light rather than the evil stand-in-the-way husband that prevents a reunion between childhood friends as he himself puts it… but at the same time, you feel for him. It’s a tough situation either way.

*Side note: I was thrown off by his character when I saw that he was doing a signing for his book titled, “Boner.” I won’t lie, that made me feel slight disgust towards his character.

Watching this film reminded me of the time I saw Before Sunrise in the sense that it did a fantastic job of conveying the pure, gentle intimacy of candid conversations with a romantic interest. 

Nora’s conversations with Hae Sung - even simply the ways they looked at each other - reminded me of the all-encompassing feeling of a first love. The two minute look Nora and Hae Sung shared as they waited on his Uber was one of the most emotionally potent parts of the film. Nora’s inner child is reawakened by their farewell. The hardened soul finally cries again