And this is the particular majesty of this very modest film – it tells a story that is strikingly specific in its particulars, but it tells that story so insightfully and personally that it becomes universal. Not all of us have been that girl, or that guy, or the other one. But we\u2019ve all loved someone when it was too late, or questioned the choices we\u2019ve made, or wondered what our lives would be like if we\u2019d done this one little thing differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So back we go, 24 years. Nora and Hae Sung meet as children in Korea, where they are fierce competitors in the classroom; she usually comes out on top, and cries when she doesn\u2019t (\u201cIf I beat you for the first time ever and that makes you cry, how do you think that makes me feel?\u201d he asks, not unreasonably). Theirs is a very sweet kid-crush relationship, walks home from school and playdates and the like, but then her parents immigrate their family to Canada, and they part ways, and that\u2019s that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Twelve years pass. Now in college, they look each other up on Facebook (as we all did); he\u2019s still in Korea, she\u2019s in New York. They get on Skype and start talking again – initially about nothing, harmless small talk, but it\u2019s clear that there\u2019s still a connection. \u201cYou\u2019re the same as the 12-year-old kid I remember,\u201d he says, in a complimentary way; whatever it was that they liked about each other, all those years ago, is still present. And it\u2019s just a cute little online relationship, but it escalates, and they\u2019re each staying up too late and going to class too late and biding their time looking up the cost of airline tickets until Nora, sensible Nora, puts on the brakes: \u201cI want us to stop talking for a while.\u201d So they take a \u201cbrief break,\u201d primarily to spare their own feelings, which have grown frighteningly intense in a brief period of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They don\u2019t seem, initially, happy to have seen each other; they seem kind of terrified, regretful, all sorts of things. Nora talks about it, honestly and openly, with her husband, and what begins as a jokey little chat about the entire situation (\u201cI\u2019m not gonna miss my rehearsals for some dude!\u201d) turns into a long, thoughtful, searching conversation about how \u201cthis is where I ended up. This is where I\u2019m supposed to be.\u201d And that\u2019s when the giant subjects in this tiny little movie really begin to reveal themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If Past Lives<\/em> does nothing else – and it should do quite a bit – it should finally establish Greta Lee as a dazzlingly talented movie star, charismatic and funny and supremely gifted. (She has a moment here where she gives Arthur a little smirk, a little go-ahead with her eyes, that\u2019s one of the most charming things I\u2019ve ever seen in a movie.) Teo Yoo has a tougher role as Hae Sung, particularly since so much of the picture depends on him being stoic and regretful, but he finds every single shade of those colors. And John Magaro may have the trickiest time of all as Arthur, since he\u2019s the third wheel, the one who hasn\u2019t<\/em> been with the other since they were literal children, and yet he understands his place in this equation, and is at peace with it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s tempting to oversell Past Lives<\/em>, since it\u2019s such an overwhelmingly, devastatingly emotional experience; the picture is so mellow and melancholy that putting too many overstuffed hyperboles on its name could crumple it up like a piece of tissue paper. But while sobbing through its closing scenes, I was reminded of Roger Ebert\u2019s acknowledgment that \u201cI never cry during sad moments in the movies, only during moments about goodness.\u201d That\u2019s why Past Lives<\/em> hits as hard as it does: because they\u2019re all such good, kind people, and you want what\u2019s best for t<\/em>hem, even though there\u2019s no single thing that can be that for them all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Past Lives” is out Friday in limited release.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/past-lives2-1024x512.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Twelve more years pass, and the break has gone too well. Nora is now a successful playwright, and Hae Sung has his engineering degree. They\u2019ve haven\u2019t spoken at all, and now Nora is married to Arthur, and Hae Sung has broken up with his longtime girlfriend, and at long last, he\u2019s going to go to New York City – not specifically to visit her<\/em>, of course (of COURSE), but as long as he\u2019s there\u2026 \u201cI just wanted to see you one more time,\u201d he confesses. \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\nA+<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n