Past Lives (2023)★ 7.9/10

What a perfect movie, everything is well done

The film addresses themes of immigration, cultural conflict, and self-identity but sadly, it doesn’t meet expectations. Its predictability and awkward flashback transitions detract from the viewing experience. It's audiovisual language lacks the same sophistication as compared to "Aftersun".

"Past Lives" feels more like a coming-of-age story than a pure romance, which is reminiscent of "Normal People." It's about saying goodbye to one's childhood and homeland, reconnecting with a long lost friend through the internet, and learning to let go. The director's subtlety make the story touching without resorting to melodrama. The elements about immigrants are naturally integrated into the film and offers a fresh perspective on the immigrant experience.

Having someone there is like a reminder that there must be another possibility in your life that is incredibly real.

I recognize that every migration is accompanied by a severing of identity. It changes my neighborhood, structures my language, and shapes my intimacy. But the person I once was is like the native language spoken only in dreams. The person who stops in the past still misses the crybaby of that time, and those are my past lives. We discussed countless encounters in past lives, which eventually ended abruptly one night in New York City, with no answers to 'what-ifs', only uncountable regrets.

The theme is stale and the content is uninspired. The story lacks complexity and is unconvincing even when it is about pure love.

This one could have made my shortlist for most disappointing movie of the year. Thought it was going to be a period homage to the masterpiece of love, but it just turned out to be nowhere near. The outline of the story couldn't be more sketchy. It's the pure love story of two childhood friends who are separated by the flood of time and fate; plus counting the actors' not-so-impressive acting and lines, it's enough to make me lose all interest.

The attitude of the new generation of immigrant creators is one of attachment to the past, but never looking back. A long goodbye is not the beginning of love, but a fragile memory that can only be preserved by deliberately avoiding all cultural collisions. The present is not an irreplaceable choice, nor is the past an unbearable and eternal parting. Lament and sadness are nothing more than a cry in the end.

The first half of the movie will feel a bit cheesy until the moment when the heroine reconnects with the hero 12 years ago, but knows deep down that neither of them will give up their lives for each other, which hit me instantly. It was shot with such sincerity that I empathized so much with stubbornness and determination and it brought tears to my eyes.

In the last moment of the movie, she sends HaeSung away and walks home alone; her pace gradually gets messier and messier, and her figure gets lonelier and lonelier, until finally she can't hold back and says "I'm sorry" on her husband's shoulder, who is waiting downstairs, and cries. If not for this scene, I am afraid that everyone, including herself, would have been largely convinced by her self-effacement and determination. But that may be what the story is trying to say, that reason can't respond to all regrets, and that people will always have an emotional need that their reason can't control. You can't avoid it, but you don't need to respond to it either. If you leave something behind, you gain something too.

It's a very current immigrant story. I empathize with the heroine's internal struggle, and it seems that in both the East and West, people can't really be known as their fullest selves. But she is lucky to be loved. I prefer to believe that the parting cry at the end is because she is saying goodbye to a part of herself.