Past Lives 2023
Past Lives was one of the movies nominated for Best Picture that I did not manage to see before it went on to lose to Oppenheimer. Like a couple of other nominated movies this year it was filmed in a mixture of English and some other language, in this case Korean. It is about a playwright in New York City who emigrated from Korea as a 12 year old (maybe a little younger). She leaves behind her best friend who is also kind of her boyfriend and as adults they find each other on the internet. It is mostly a romance, kind of like Before Sunrise where they just talk a lot. Meanwhile, as time goes by, their lives move on separately. The movie then asks the question that many people ask themselves, "What if things had been different?" The movie is slow and it is also a little overly precious. I think it earned extra points from critics for being an immigrant's story, which gives the What if? a lot bigger fork, and also gives the main character a chance to explore that blurred identity of being Korean and American and Korean-American. Also she is a writer, so it appeals to writers (nominated for best screenplay), who are always writing about writing because that's what they know. The movie is also very slow moving, which, again, critics love, but it was a little tiresome for me. Ultimately the whole movies was a little more tiresome than I would have liked. You can second guess your life, but what's the point? The movie and characters are easy enough to like and the perspective is somewhat unique, but I didn't think it did enough with the characters and the plot is essentially non-existent. I still liked seeing this piece of a person's life, but you could get to know any stranger and it would be just as interesting.
Written: 31 Mar 2024