Celine Song's "PAST LIVES"
Movie review by Dennis D. McDonald
I’ve tagged this as “Korean” but it’s more complex than that. Two young and very close Korean teenagers are separated when the girl’s family moves to the West. They lose touch. Twelve years later they take up their relationship again but from long distance, he from Korea and she from the United States.
They break up again. Another 12 years pass. She is married and living in Manhattan. He is still in Korea and living with his parents. He comes to visit her. She, her husband, and her old friend from Korea then meet in person.
One of the things I enjoyed most about this film was how the director uses time. It’s all about how relationships evolve (or don’t) over time but its real attraction for me is that the film allows the character to speak and move about in an unhurried fashion. Some scenes play out in silence while in others we wonder, “Where is this conversation going?”
Another thing I enjoyed was the focus on the three main characters. There is very little extraneous detail here in terms of multiple characters such as friends, siblings, and parents. They are mentioned and even figure in some scenes. In one scene, for example, we see the young man’s mom serving him breakfast. For most of the scene we don’t see her head or face, just the young man sitting at the table.
In other scenes the director takes time to show us the characters as they interact against an urban background. In one scene the young man is showing her a video view of the Seoul cityscape from a cable car as it moves up a hill outside the city. It’s a constrained view of the metropolis but enough to touch her emotionally.
When he finally comes to New York, in contrast, the director takes time as they walk about the city and see the sights, many from the perspective of ferry rides with views of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty — all while they talk on and off. One gets the impression that the point is “See how her perspective has opened up and changed compared to his!”
Review text copyright (c) 2023 by Dennis D. McDonald
