Review: "Past Lives"

Lyrical, potent, well-acted, and the year's best movie thus far.

Teo Yoo and Greta Lee star in Celine Song’s “Past Lives.” (A24 Films)

Ever since I’ve entered my 30’s, one thing I’ve grappled with is time. Given how fast the days and months start to feel, I’ve done my best trying to make my days count by taking advantage of simply finding ways to seize the moment to make the most of the time I have on Earth and avoiding being hung up on what was or what didn’t happen. That very notion of wondering what was or what could’ve been is the basis of the story line of Celine Song’s masterpiece Past Lives.

When Nora (Greta Lee) reconnects with her childhood friend Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), they not only catch up on what they’ve done since they separated when Nora and her family fled to America to build a better life, but reflect on how things could’ve been different if she had stayed in Seoul. Would Nora still be a potential star playwright? Could they have formed a family? It’s questions like those they find themselves asking as they make up for all the years of lost time. Thrown in the middle is Arthur (a sublime John Magaro), Nora’s well-meaning writer husband.

Once the two childhood friends start reconnecting through a simple catch-up chat on Skype, their chat becomes one of many. Thanks to the simplistic editing from Keith Fraase, the montage of their sessions reflects how they’re not only in different countries, but different worlds. Particularly, in the bit where the scene cuts from an exterior shot of a nearly empty, almost noiseless Seoul to a glimpse of New York City accompanied by sirens and car sounds.

Thanks to Fraase’s editing and the screenplay from writer/director Celine Song, it’s microcosmic moments like the aforementioned exterior city shots that speak more volumes about the narrative than the use of heavy exposition. The same can be said of its main acting trio whose faces telegraph their characters’ streams of consciousness in ways that words aren’t needed.

Leading actress Greta Lee, who’s known for constantly stealing the show on Russian Doll, puts her dramatic range on full display as Nora, letting her face convey how Nora is walking a constant tightrope between being content with her life without Hae Sung and forcefully suppressing her regret over being absent from his life. Meanwhile, Teo Yoo astounds as Hae Sung goes through his own silent arc from playing up his romantic sincerity out of hope that Nora may fall for him to trying to accept Nora’s life path. Lastly, John Magaro injects sly humor into his role as the good-natured yet nearly despondent Arthur.

All three actors are utterly exquisite and transcendent in this lyrical romance that lingers with you long after the credits roll. Flawlessly acted and crafted with superb intricacy, Past Lives is a potent reminder that not only can we never truly know or change what could’ve been, but we can’t know what the future holds either.

We can’t change the life that our loved ones had decided for us or where we came from. There’s no clear idea as to what tomorrow holds because tomorrow may not even come. That’s why we must only focus on the now. Form wondrous small memories and make those close to you that make time feel slower more present in your life. I know after seeing Past Lives, that’s a lesson I aim to keep taking with me.

Grade: A+

Past Lives is now out in New York and Los Angeles and will expand in theaters nationwide on June 23rd.