Past Lives

Past Lives

Directed by Celine Song
South Korea / 2023 / Narrative
106 minutes / English, Korean

Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora's family emigrates from South Korea. Two decades later, they are reunited in New York for one fateful week as they confront notions of destiny, love, and the choices that make a life, in this heartrending modern romance. The film premiered at the 2023 Sundance film festival.

It all makes for a remarkably ambitious canvas for Song's directorial debut, but also a deeply personal story that she knew only she could direct. The film has the instincts and control of an artist with a precise vision of the story's every conflicted,
emotional note.

 

Read a full review from local film critic Andrew Wyatt in the RFT.