These scenes where Nora and Hyesung reunite are fun, partly because Lee and Yoo enjoy spending time together. But as day turns into night after night, this interlude can sometimes feel like a wafting, slightly harmless, filler. Part of the reason is that while Yoo is such a nice person and Song continues to add details about Hyesung’s life in Korea, the character never gets as deeply rooted in the story as Nora. For the most part, he’s practically a ghostly figure, a beautiful ghost on a laptop screen whose open face hides little of Hyesung’s weakness and longing.
All of this feels as tangible, purposeful, and meaningful as the sight of various lovebirds embracing around Nora and Hye-sung when they finally reunite in New York after another 12 years. By that time, each of them has become accustomed to their own lives, has separate histories, and has made separate memories. They have unique personalities and ways of occupying space, and each has a serious relationship, Nora has a serious relationship with her husband Arthur (John Magaro, wonderful). Like Hyesung, Arthur has a sweet, transparent face that hides little, including the scars sometimes caused by Nora, the only difference being that he actually lives with her. is.
Critical to Song’s overall design is that one of the most significant and extended sequences in “Past Lives” takes place shortly after Nora breaks up with Hyesung during her adolescence. Although she is shaken by their encounter, she is soon on her way to the writer’s lair, the symbol of her first glimpse of the horizon during her girlhood. Here, for the only time in the film, Song stays above a physical space, in this case, a fine sun-drenched country house: a house. Nora also remains in these rooms, soon after she settles in, followed by another writer, Arthur. Song directs his arrival from Nora’s room, filming Nora asleep in her bed pointing the camera through an open window. She misses Arthur coming in, but soon Nora comes out of the room and she wakes up for the first time in a present that feels like the future.
past life
PG-13 designation. English and Korean with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 46 minutes. at the theater.
