Past Lives (2023)

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1. 

   pegs404

   A beautiful, subtle film about the ache of unrequited love—the pain of holding on, the pain of letting go, and the pain of wondering what could have been. Nice score, nice script, and fantastic performances from all three leading actors. 1 month 3 weeks ago
2. 

   Siskoid

   Men are desperate and needy in Celine Song's Past Lives, but perhaps we'd rather say that they allow themselves to be vulnerable, honest, and accepting. Grace Lee plays the grown up version of a girl who immigrated to North America as a 12-year-old, leaving behind a boy who she had fancied marrying when they were older - as 12-year-olds might (though that had perhaps more power in Korean culture). As adults, they find each other again, and it seems he, at least, had built something up in his head. Had she? "What might have been" are dangerous words, and her current husband feels naturally insecure when that handsome boy comes to visit. The film creates an awkward tension between the three points of this romantic triangle, in part sustained by our notions of the romantic normally hardwired into romcom tropes. The characters even address the expected narrative, preparing us for a tipping point where the film must decide if it indeed a romcom that leans into those tropes, or rather a romdram that subverts them. Impeccably acted and very adult, with a crucial piece of Asian myth giving it poetry, Past Lives isn't just one live story, but two, or shall we say 16,000. 2 months 3 weeks ago
3. 

   elcid

   Child love stories films are legion but in this film there is something more and this make it interesting for me: First the rupture that immigration causes in people but also about the cultural colonization of South Korea by the US. Symbols of the American domination are abundant in the film: the Music, Facebook, Apple, Uber from Korea we only hear about In-Youn and that people are exploited economically and mentally.
   Recommended 1 week 2 days ago

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