Nora and Hae Sung, classmates at a primary school in Seoul, have their deep friendship ended abruptly when Nora’s family emigrates to Canada.
Two decades later, they meet in New York and over one week address notions of chance and circumstance and the choices people make that create a life.
Past Lives is an authentically beautiful romantic debut feature from playwright Celine Song. Exploring ‘In Yun’, a Korean notion of connection between people – the string of fate which tangles together across different lifetimes, it subtly addresses the tension between a life longed for and the life lived.
With spellbinding performances from Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, and John Magaro, it brims with compassion for how complicated the human condition can be.
Festivals
Edinburgh International Film Festival 2023
Berlin International Film Festival 2023
Sundance Film Festival 2023
★★★★★ ”It’s a beautiful, transporting film but one made with both feet firmly on the ground.”
–Benjamin Lee, The Guardian
‘’It is a very tough thing indeed to make a film that is at once restrained and brimming with feeling, a movie that could be fairly described as both big and small.’’
–Peter Debruge, Variety
★★★★★ “Celine Song’s tender, time-spanning romance is an exquisitely judged wonder. A directorial debut of remarkable poise and power.”
–Matt Maytum, Total Film
