Past Lives

Past Lives | Official Trailer HD | A24

Summer 2023

Release date: June 2, 2023 (USA)
Director: Celine Song
Distributed by: A24

 

Two strongly bonded childhood friends (Nora, formally Na Young 나영 and Hae Sung 혜성) reconnect after many years after Nora's family moves to Canada when she was a young girl from South Korea.  After so many years, two of them find each other on the soical media, and eventually Hae Sung comes to NYC to meet his long lost friend. 

 

It's obvious they once were so strongly connected.  Perhaps, two of them have gotten married if Nora did not move away from Korea.  Their reunion is sweet but also feels awkward at times, and these two characters express their emotions realistically. 

 

I think Hae Sung is devasted after meeting Nora ~ is she the same person he knew when they were young children? Hae Sung realizes that that Nora would not be falling for him even though she might have loved him dearly. 

 

This is a heartbreaking, bitter-sweet story. Even though two people deeply cared about and/or loved each other, their  "inyun"(인연) ends after their renuion.  Too much time has passed, and their lives were completely different. Would they have been happy if they were reunited and decided to have a relationship?  I loved the way the story ended even though many people I knew who saw the movie were disappointed.  What else could they have done?  It's only a realistic way to continue to move on with their own lives.

 

The setting of the entire story is amazing.  I loved seeing the real streets of Korea including a traditonal bars where "normal" people would gather to socialize... unlike fancy, modernized (western-styled) bars and restaurants often shown in Korean TV dramas.   I only have seen this movie once when it came out in the theater in the summer 2023.  I am looking forward to seeing this movie on the small screen via Netflix, Amazon Prime, or on Apple TV.

 

 

 

This is how they said good-bye ~ reminds me of how I said good-bye to all when I left Korea... not really saying good-bye

 

Two meet again after so many years

 

This is how two goes their own way