Last week I was lucky enough to catch a preview of Past Lives, the quietly devastating forthcoming debut film from director Celine Song. Some critics are already proclaiming it the film of the year, making Past Lives the tortoise to Barbenheimer’s hare. It’s a very modern, wonderfully restrained, kind-of love story, crossing continents between Seoul and New York, tracing the surging affections of childhood sweethearts Nora and Hae Sung.
The major triumph of Past Lives is not in its beautifully dour, Sofia Coppola-ish cinematography, the tinkering ambience of a Grizzly Bear soundtrack or the two peerless central performances. The best thing about this film is that it carefully unpicks, then categorically takes a sledgehammer to, one of the worst romantic fallacies that can haunt adult lives: ‘the one that got away.’
