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Past Lives (2023) dir. Celine Song

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Past Lives works so well for me because I am so enamoured with pragmatism in fiction.

I read and watch a lot of stories about idealized love stories and I often enjoy them too! I spent my entire childhood believing that the teenagers who got together in the media I consumed would stay together forever. And then as I got older, I was naturally introduced to more stories about romances that didn’t work out. Still, it’s hard for me to think about those as pragmatic, most of them have this desire for sadness in them. They would make me feel as though the devastation was the point, that the narrative was forcefully bent toward the saddest outcome.

Past Lives doesn’t make me feel this way. Nora doesn’t stop talking to Hae Sung because of an unforeseen tragic circumstance. She makes a choice and goes through with it. Hae Sung puts it best during their conversation at the end of the film. She is the kind of person to leave. And he loves her because she is that kind of person. The “what-if” isn’t in wondering about if circumstances were different. No matter what, she would have chosen her plays over anything else. Her husband even notes that so much of how their relationship happened is because he fit so well into the life she wanted. The whole reason this film is called “Past Lives” is because that’s the only way to ponder about whether Nora and Hae Sung could be together.

It’s such a delightfully Asian perspective on it. “In another life” films are so common, but I always feel like Western movies do it in a kind of parallel universe kind of way. I love that in this one, Nora is so steadfast and consistent in her personality and desires, that there is no real contemplation and consideration of making her and Hae Sung’s relationship work. There is only a longing and a love.

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PAST LIVES (2023) dir. Celine Song

- But why are you immigrating? Na Young's father is a film director, and you're an artist. Why would you leave all that behind? - When you leave something behind, you gain something, too.

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who do you think they are to each other? / it took me twelve years to find my friend / he was just this kid in my head for such a long time, and I think I just missed him / you dream in a language I can’t understand / you make my life so much bigger, and I just wonder if I do the same for you / this is where I ended up. this is where I’m supposed to be / I just wanted to see you one more time / I didn’t know liking your husband would hurt this much / maybe we were a bird and the branch it decided to rest on one day / who you are is someone who leaves / to arthur, you are someone who stays / if this is already a past life, who do you think we are to each other in the next?

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Past Lives (Celine Song, 2023)

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There's a word in Korean: 인연 [in yun] ⁠— it means "providence" or "fate". If two strangers walk by each other in the street, and their clothes accidentally brush, that means there have been eight thousand layers of 인연 between them.

PAST LIVES (2023) dir. Celine Song

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Screenplay written by Celine Song

Past Lives (2023) dir. Celine Song

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Past Lives (2023)

Dir. Celine Song

Language: Korean, English

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Past Lives (Celine Song, 2023)

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Past Lives (2023)

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Coming your way on a gloomy fall day feeling trapped...

Finally feeling free with you beside me on a happy summer day

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Camila Mendes and Archie Renaux as Ana & William in Upgraded (2024) dir. Carlson Young

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ANA SANTOS + LOOKS

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Upgraded (2024) Dir. Carlson Young

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LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT (2023) dir. Vanessa Caswill

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Hadley Sullivan and Oliver Jones will kiss 12,872 times in their life together. They'll be married 58 years, have 1,462 arguments, and make love 5,787 times. Hadley will hold Oliver's hand when Tessa takes her last breath. Oliver will hold Hadley's when she takes hers. And they will both hold their daughter's hand the day she's born and marvel at her tiny fingers and how none of it would have been possible were it not for a missed flight, a broken seat belt, and a choice to love each other every day. 

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why are men so attractive when they’re in emotional distress