It's not uncommon to see gripes that the Academy Awards don't reflect the taste of the general public. They don't, nor do I believe they should. Yet, as studios have made fewer mid-budget dramas aimed at adults in recent years, it has been interesting to see the Academy's taste align more with, say, the Independent Spirit Awards. By which I mean smaller, scrappier indie films have been sneaking into the top categories more and more. This year's Little Movie That Could is "
Past Lives." A film from a first time director, with no major stars, and partially in Korean, it probably would've slipped past the AMPAS' notice before the rise of superstar distributor A24. That company's hype machine ensured Celine Song's 12 million dollar drama became one of last year's
best reviewed movies. This is probably why it earned a Best Original Screenplay nod and manages to slip into the Best Picture slate.
Partially based on Song's own life, the film follows Na Young and Hae Sung. Childhood best friends growing up in Seoul, the two are separated when Na Young's family moves to Toronto. Twelve years later, Hae looks Na – now going by Nora – up on Facebook. The two begin a long distance friendship, Skyping for hours every night, before Nora asks to take a break. She moves to New York, becomes a successful playwright, and meets and marries a man named Arthur. Another twelve years pass before a newly single Hae travels to Manhattan to spend a few days with Nora. All the baggage of their past comes back as the two wonder what their relationship means to each other.
"Past Lives" is a film concerned deeply with one of life's most vexing questions: What might have been? The script frequently references the Korean Buddhist concept of
Inyeon, that the connections people forge in life are based on connections they had in past lives. Hae Sung and Nora's relationship – a platonic friendship that always seems on the precipice of becoming a romance – is based on a deep, nostalgic connection to their childhood. As their lives go in wildly different directions, separated by an ocean of distance and time, they don't forget each other. Hae never stops looking for Nora, never stops holding a torch for her. As she begins a life with another man, in another country, there's this lingering feeling of what might have happened had she stayed in Seoul. Would she had fallen in love with Hae, the two marrying, if she had stayed? Would she have met someone other than Arthur and started a life with him if circumstances had just been slightly different? This is the space "Past Lives" resides in, that nagging sense that our worlds mightve been something else entirely if things had just gone slightly differently.
Song's script conveys these ideas in the most subtle of ways. "Past Lives" is a film that rejects all melodrama, the huge emotions contained within its story always kept under the surface. The feelings between Nora and Hae seem to express themselves the most though long, meaningful, silent looks. The clearly romantic connection between these two mostly express themselves through the easy-going chemistry Greta Lee and Teo Yoo have. They banter about their careers, their countries, and the idea of past lives much more than they ever discuss their feelings for each other. The sexual tension between these two is always apparent, in their body languages, brief touches, and intense eye contact. Yoo's work is constantly delicate, focused on Hae's most mundane features. Lee has a similar approach to Nora, building a very personable human through meaningful conversations and everyday interactions.
The indication that “Past Lives” is not your typical romantic drama is how it avoids the stereotypes of the genre. In most stories like this, Nora's husband would be a jerk. Hae would come back into her life, allowing her a way out of a loveless marriage, youthful passion blooming again. And we wouldn't feel bad about, as viewers, because who cares about the jerk? Yet Arthur, as played by John Magaro, is as sensitive as anyone else in the film. He has insecurities about how he made this bond with Nora and wonders how it could've been different. Yet he does love her. He doesn't snipe at the other guy. He doesn't pick fights. He doesn't try and control his wife's life. He accepts that she has this relationship with this man from her past but also understands that she loves him. That she has chosen to be with him.
I really appreciate “Past Lives'” rejection of clichés, its strong and subtle acting, and its delicately assembled visuals. Yet the film is determined to keep its emotional heart so concealed that sometimes I felt it was a little inscrutable. Only in its literal closing moments does “Past Lives” provide the viewer with any sort of emotional catharsis. Even then, there's a distance between us and the character. I get what the filmmakers were going for and I think they were very successful. Yet I do wish “Past Lives” devoted a little more time to digging into the inner lives of its protagonists. I can't deny that this is certainly a very good film and I'm glad it got some recognition from the Academy. [7/10]
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