Past Lives

 Past Lives (Celine Song, 2023) is a strangely inconsequential movie about a Korean immigrant to Canada (and, then, New York City) and her childfriend left behind in Seoul.  The movie is very well-made and nicely acted but there's nothing really to it.  I suspect the picture is better and more subtle than I thought on first viewing -- many critics greatly admire the picture.  But I wasn't able to take much interest in the proceedings.

The movie is divided into three unequal parts.  In the first episode, a 12 year old boy talks with an ambitious girl of the same age.  The girl aspires to be a writer and wants to emigrate from Seoul since "Korean writers don't win the Nobel prize."  With her family, she departs for Toronto.  The boy, yearning for her friendship, is left behind.  The girl is named Na-Young; the boy's name is Hae-Sung. Since I didn't care much about either character (the young woman is particularly self-centered, privileged, and irritating), it's an annoyance to keep track of their peculiar names.  I suppose this is racist, or, at least, provincial -- but so be it.

In the second part of the movie, Na and Hae re-connect over Facebook.  They message one another and engage in long conversations on-line.  Na is attending school to become a playwright in NYC.  She has garnered a writing fellowship at Montauk and plans to depart for that opportunity in the next couple weeks.  Hae is studying engineering and plans to travel to China to learn Mandarin.  Na, who is always the dominant figure in this relationship, announces that she wants to "take a break" and cease their on-line conversations.  This hurts poor Hae's feelings but he accedes to her request.  Na goes to Montauk where she meets a young man and has sex with him.  The young writer's name is Arthur; he's a Jewish kid.  During this part of the film, both Na and Hae are about 24.  Na talks to Arthur about the Korean notion of In-yun -- that is providence, kismet, or fate.  The theory behind In-yun is that a marriage is based upon 8000 encounters in past lives.  When this number of past encounters has accumulated, marriage is inevitable.  Na opportunistically tells Arthur that they have met one another on the basis of In-yun and their relationship is preordained.  When Arthur expresses wonder at this idea, Na says that the notion of In-yun is just Korean notion used to implement sexual seduction.

Another 12 years pass.  Na is now an established playwright married to Arthur and he has published at least one novel.  Hae is still living with his parents.  When he breaks up with his long-time girlfriend, he contacts Na and travels to NYC for a vacation.  In fact, Hae wants to revive his relationship with Na.  They meet and she takes him on a perfunctory tour of Manhattan.  They take a ferry to see the Statue of Liberty, something that Na has never done with her husband, Arthur.  It's obvious that Hae loves Na, but that there's no hope of any relationship with her since she is happily married to Arthur.  Na introduces Arthur to Hae and they go out to eat and, then, stay up drinking until dawn.  (Koreans like to drink and there's lots of sloppy sentimental boozing in the picture.)  The concept of In-yun is discussed again and Hae says that he and Arthur are also involved in a connection arising from In-yun.  (In the movie, everyone takes the idea of sexual predestination or In-yun seriously except for Na, the person who first explained the concept.)  Hae has to return to Korea.  An Uber is called and he leaves.  Hae weeps in the arms of Arthur.

That's all there is to the movie.  It's unostentatious and well-paced.  If you are in the mood, it's quite sad and poignant.  But it's very asymmetrical -- Na calls all the shots and the men are merely appendages to her ambition and selfishness; at the end of the movie, she's stilling seeking validation for her writing -- she has gone from wanting a  Nobel prize to desiring a Pulitzer and, then, at last, Tony award.  The movie is low-key and convincingly realistic.  It's clearly derived in some respect from Linklater's trilogy of films, Before Sunrise. Before Sunset, and Before Midnight.  Those movies, designed to be seen over many years, and reflecting the way a relationship evolves and ossifies over time, are better and, if you like this sort of thing, see those pictures.  Past Lives has the benefit of being shorter -- it presents the whole Linklater trilogy in a Cliff's Notes version in one hour and 45 minutes.