Past Lives

Nominated for: Best Picture, Original Screenplay

IMDB Summary: Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrested apart after Nora's family emigrates from South Korea. Twenty years later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront notions of love and destiny. 

I normally write my blog entries the same night as I watch each movie, which gives a fairly fresh response to each film. I like this short turn around, because my initial reactions are fresh in my mind and flow out my fingertips quite easily. The only problem is that each entry usually takes me some time to articulate my thoughts into the written word, a task that becomes mentally exhausting as the night wears on. So, I'm writing this entry a day later - my thoughts aren't quite as fresh, but with this film, a little extra time to process the story has actually made me appreciate it more. 

"Past Lives" is a movie about "what ifs." What if I made this choice instead of the one I did? What if I did chase my lifelong dream? What would have happened if I didn't follow my dreams? I thought this would have a "Sliding Doors" type of plot line, but it rather explores the emotions of pondering "what if." As the main character, Nora, reconnects with a long lost friend and childhood crush from Korea, we watch in real time as both characters seemingly wonder what their lives would have been like, if in some other life, they would have ended up together. It's not the normal "I regret my decisions and am thoroughly unhappy with my current life situation" story - both are in stable jobs and Nora is married - but there's this connection they have to past versions of themselves that leads them to wonder about a situation that never came to be. Not that it necessarily would be better than where they are, but rather a loss of the possibility.  

One of the more intriguing points this movie demonstrates is the sense of distance the people who come into your life as you get older have with your past. Let me explain - Nora's husband appears to be a genuine person who really wants and tries to share in her Korean culture, from food to games to language. However, despite how much he tries, there will always be a portion of her culture that he will never fully understand because he didn't experience Korea the way she did. It's this experience that ties her closely to her childhood crush, Hae Sung, who she reconnects with in film. Now, I've never immigrated to a different culture, but I think this same point can be demonstrated by nostalgia. The memories and experience I hold near and dear to my heart from my childhood probably won't hold the same reverence to someone else whom I've just met and doesn't have that same connection. Now, why does this matter in this story? It ties back to that question of "what if." 

When we think back on opportunities we may have missed or choices we wish we would have made in the past but didn't, do they really hold the same amount of reverence and weight looking back as we get older? Or are we holding on to the feelings from that time period and building an image through our memories from that time? There are plenty of stories out there where the main character wishes they would have made a different decisions or regrets the choices they've made, but that isn't this story. Despite the appearance of a love triangle, we don't see the prototypical "she's with the wrong guy" plot. In this life, Nora makes choices to pursue her ambitions, which leads her to cross path with certain individuals that compliment her as she grows and matures. There isn't a "wrong" guy or a "right" guy. It's an emotional examination of where we are is where we are supposed to be, and it's ok to be happy and content with that. But it's also ok to wonder "what if" and grieve for what may have been lost along the way. 

This is the second film I've watched with subtitles - Nora and Hae Sung speak primarily in Korean, with English mixed in when Nora speaks with other characters. From a screenplay perspective, there is dialogue, but the script is not filled with long monologues or deep heart to heart conversations between the characters. That is not to say it doesn't power the emotional ride for the audience. There are some really interesting exchanges that are deep with meaning but light on words. The film has a remarkable ability to provoke profounds thoughts from the audience with limited text, half of which is in another language. The quiet in the film leaves space for the audience to connect with the emotional journey of the characters on screen, as well as reflect on their own personal relationship to their past lives. 

Available to rent on Amazon Prime.