Past Lives

AroView: Two childhood sweethearts are torn apart after one family emigrates from South Korea in this heart-rending and exquisite film that tells an age-old romantic story in a fresh way.

In her directing debut, Korean-American director Celine Song informs her intimate drama with a distinctly Korean worldview from both the past and present, but this is as much about universality of human connection and the randomness of crossed paths. Told over three time periods twelve years apart, it’s a film that like its female protagonist (Greta Lee) aches with the tension between what is and what-might-have-been in ways that are both romantic and under no illusions.

“For all the films that have been made about love triangles, Song has fashioned hers in the form of a circle, defying so many of the clichés in her quietly devastating way.” ~Peter Debruge, Variety

“The dreamy, deliberate pacing of all of this never feels overlong. Instead, the film gathers you up in its hands and carries you along with it, resulting it what will surely be one of the best films of 2023.” ~Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm