Past Lives running at Ayala cinemas until this weekend
The female lead in Past Lives is a playwright who is married to a book author. They’re two artistic people in love, and living in New York. Their set-up makes the ideal ingredient of a romantic comedy. Past Lives, however, isn’t exactly a romance or a comedy.
The playwright is Korean-American. Her given name was Na Young, and much of her early childhood was spent in South Korea. Her best friend was a boy, her classmate Hae Sung. Although they were barely adolescents, it seemed they were destined to be romantically involved. But the girl’s family migrated to Toronto where she eventually adopted a Western name for herself, Nora, and dreamed of winning the Nobel Prize.
Cast of ‘Past Lives’— John Magaro, writer/director Celine Song, Greta Lee, Teo Yoo (From X Teo Yoo)
The adult Nora (played by Greta Lee) is the playwright. She has left Toronto to try her luck in New York, and there she meets Arthur the Jewish author (John Magaro), who quickly becomes Arthur her husband. At one point Nora tells Arthur about an old Korean belief, the in-yeon. She explains that if you’ve met someone briefly, it means you’ve met that person in a past life. Lovers, she notes, are supposed to have met again and again during previous lives. Nora admits she doesn’t believe in it and presumes it’s merely used for seduction purposes.
Meanwhile, Nora’s immediate past life in South Korea comes into focus when childhood friend Hae Sung, played by Teo Yoo, the German-born Korean actor you’ve seen in K-dramas (Love to Hate You, Vagabond, Chocolate) and Korean and international films, reconnects with her on Facebook. This leads to long chats on Skype and eventually to a face-to-face reunion in New York. Nora gives Hae Sung the grand tour of Manhattan, and it’s obvious that he’s still smitten with her. Rekindling what they had in their adolescent years becomes a possibility, at least to him.
First-time writer/director Celine Song tells the story of Past Lives with a sensitive touch. She gives us a compassionate look at how people relate to each other, and how time and new surroundings can alter personalities and relationships. The characters in her film are likable and behave so naturally, their acting so rich with nuances. Even if Nora and Arthur are artists living in the cosmopolitan city, they aren’t outgoing and don’t speak like they’re characters in a Neil Simon play. Past Lives does without witty repartees or dramatic confrontations.
What director Song does is to set the mood of the place and the state of mind of a protagonist. Forgoing style for substance, she leaves it to her cast to continue telling the story by using their own nuances. Song also doesn’t make her movie look too pretty. I’m not sure if this was an artistic choice, or if it was a budgetary concern. I guess having stunning visuals would distract viewers and make the protagonists seem less significant.
PAST LIVES // IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK pic.twitter.com/U9RHBGs5Xc
— TIFF (@TIFF_NET) June 2, 2023
At times, however, Song’s almost Zen-like direction feels somewhat incongruent to the story’s New York setting. It’s shot in actual locations, yet viewers won’t feel the bustling New York vibe. Even the background actors look too behaved and self conscious. It’s as if the gentle soul of Seoul had taken a huge bite of the Big Apple. Well, at least we aren’t given the clichéd view of the city. There’s no music of Puccini or even Jerome Kern to heighten the mood or enhance the majesty of the familiar sights. Actually, the director hardly uses any music at all.
This lack of Hollywood frills is compensated for by the performance of the two lead actors. As the self-assured Nora, Greta Lee is attractive and captivating, and she carries the movie through. Teo Yoo plays the less dynamic part, but nonetheless he beautifully imparts Hae Sung’s yearning and eventually, his disappointment, if not pain. His ultimate visit to New York makes it awkward for Nora and her spouse, but Teo Yoo effectively conveys the character of a man who is well-mannered and respectful.
— TEO YOO 유태오 (@actorteoyoo) June 1, 2023
This is evident in a pivotal scene in a bar, where the unlikely trio of Nora, Hae Sung, and a good sport of a husband, Arthur, stops for a drink after dinner. It’s a tense, awkward moment, especially when Nora gets tired of having to translate everything Hae Sung says for the benefit of her husband. Nora and Hae Sung just start conversing in Korean. Suddenly, Arthur is the third wheel. Nora and Hae Sung seated next to each other look more like a couple, and this obviously annoys Arthur, since they’re obviously reminiscing about their childhood together.
Ultimately, in the end, we’re left wondering why no film of this type and caliber has been made about Fil-Americans
In less sensitive hands, the scene might have looked absurd and unintentionally funny. It’s a tricky one to film, but Celine Song makes it work. The conversation scene ends with a poignant moment as Hae Sung offers his sincere apology to Arthur for making the latter feel left out—an apologetic Hae Sung makes him look even more appealing as a life partner. Earlier, in their intimate conversation in Korean, Hae Sung tells Nora how seeing how much she is loved by her husband can actually hurt. Credit also goes to John Magaro for not overdoing his jealous husband part.
I also like the subtle way Celine Song presents the culture clashes. She does this with just a throwaway line about Hae Sung, which Greta Lee delivers perfectly: “He believes in the in-yeon.” The film portrays delicately the contrasting attitudes of Korean-Americans and Koreans (“He is Korean-Korean,” Nora says about Hae Sung) who were raised in their homeland.
Ultimately, in the end, we’re left wondering why no film of this type and caliber has been made about Fil-Americans. So far, we’ve had the silly (Easter Sunday) and the sillier (The Fabulous Filipino Brothers). Several other movies that touched on the topic were merely superficial star vehicles designed to showcase the current love teams of Philippine cinema (a bar room brawl would have certainly been the scene of a Filipino movie). Obviously, little progress has been made since John en Marsha sa Amerika was produced back in the 1970s.
