Critics are right in praising “Past Lives.”
It is a beautifully-written love story poignant enough to trigger a myriad of thoughts.
Many would definitely relate to its premise: Childhood friends who lost contact meet again several years later to rekindle their relationship only to lose each other again along the way.
But what if they actually get to meet again? Are they actually going to do something about it, finally?
Well, not in the case of Nora and Hae Sung.
They are only too willing to embrace their fate, destiny.
It is what it is.
In-yeon.
Yeah, maybe we’re just too jaded if actually morally damaged, hoping they would just try and make a go of it, to hell with the consequences.
But we admire the character’s apparent incorruptibility.
And that is exactly what makes “Past Lives” a feel-good film in the end.
We could only aspire to be like Nora and Hae Sung — but we’re not somebody’s creation.
We are real people, too human to resist basic instincts.
“Past Lives” actually reminds us of our own innocence, how we can never go back to reclaim it, no matter what.
We perfectly understand why some of those who watched the film with us sobbed uncontrollably as Nora did in the final canto.
Did we actually make the right decision that led us to where we are?
Should we be somewhere else with someone?
Could we actually circumvent fate?
Written and directed by Korean-Canadian screenwriter Celine Song, “Past Lives,” a joint production of A24 and CJ ENM and exclusively distributed here by TBA Studios, is now in cinemas.
