"It's an inyeon if two strangers even walk past each other in the street and their clothes accidentally brush, because it means there must have been something between them in their past lives. If two people get married, they say it's because there have been 8,000 layers of inyeon over 8,000 lifetimes."
Past Lives begins in Seoul, Korea, with two adorable children, Na Young (later called Nora) and Hae Sung, who are grade school friends. They have a rapport which almost parallels the glorious childlike love of Mimsey and Gogo in Peter Ibbetson (1935). Suddenly, 12-year-old Nora and her family immigrate to Canada, leaving a bereft Hae Sung. When she reaches young womanhood, Nora, who aspires to be a playwright, moves to New York.
The movie travels back and forth in time, and spans two continents. In NYC, Nora googles Hae Sung to find that he has been searching for her. They Zoom. The years move on. Nora is accepted to a writers colony in Montauk and meets (Jewish) Arthur, another aspiring writer. They date, marry, and move to the East Village. Time marches on (backward and forward and backward). Hae Sung visits NY and reconnects with Nora. The scenes of their meeting after so many years are filled with yearning, and awkwardness, and, finally, an embrace and unspoken love. Hae Sung meets Arthur. The meeting, at first awkward, morphs into a lovely acceptance. One critic called the film "a love triangle that has nobody to root against."
Past Lives (2023) is a beautiful and gentle movie about love, time, fate, and past and future lives. It was a pleasure to watch writer Celine Song's directorial debut.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/j ... -song-film
