Past Lives
Gareth Higgins on PAST LIVES
I saw two films this weekend with the same premise - the reunion of childhood friends, many years after their days of wonder and innocence. Past Lives and The Eight Mountains are structurally similar too, each touching on three stages in the lives of the friends. One takes place against the astonishing landscape backdrop of the Italian Alps, the other city-bound in Seoul and New York City. They are exquisite explorations of the soul of relationship, the connections and disappointments of friendship, the way that you may never know when a story’s over, especially when you’re in it.
I may write more about The Eight Mountains in the future, but Past Lives, the debut film of South Korean-Canadian playwright Celine Song, lingers in my mind today (and, truth be told, my tear ducts). Twelve year olds Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) and Nora (Greta Lee) part when Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea. They’ve been close, playful, even going on a chaperoned date, so that - as Nora’s mother says - she can “make memories” of the home she is about to leave. Another twelve years pass before they talk again, rekindling everything that had been alive between them. To say more would interrupt the gorgeous surprise of the film’s unfolding, so I’ll focus on how it feels and what I think it means.
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