Got Past Lives out of the library and watched it last night, so now I've seen 3 of the Oscar-nominated films for Best Picture from 2023. I think Barbie is still my favorite, but definitely enjoyed Past Lives. There isn't much plot to speak of; in the opening scene we are presented three people at a bar and voiceover wondering how they're related to one another. We then jump back 24 years to the childhood of two of them in South Korea, just before one of them emigrates** to Canada. We then jump to 12 years later, when these two reconnect for a while online, and the one in Canada meets and marries a New Yorker. Finally we return to present day, when the person who stayed in Korea visits New York.
Because Celine Song (the writer/director) doesn't invent events to create artificial drama, the story can focus on the thoughts and feelings the characters have and their interrelationships. There are strong themes about living across/between cultures.
I fondly recalled the Before Trilogy while watching this, and prefer this style of storytelling to that of One Day, the series (I haven't read the book or seen the film), which I felt invented things for the characters to do and to happen to them to create artificial drama.
** in the subtitles, they speak of "immigrating to Canada", but IMO while in South Korea they are emigrating from South Korea to Canada.
That's not all that is left wanting by the subtitles - check out my comment on The Reveal: https://open.substack.com/pub/thereveal/p/in-review-past-lives-flamin-hot (last one)
ReplyDeleteOoh, great review and illuminating comment! Translation is always difficult.
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