Past Lives

I find myself thinking a lot about this movie Past Lives.

I think I first saw it at home last summer nearly a year after its limited theatrical release date. It had received a lot of recognition and press due to the directorial debut of Celine Song and I consider it maybe the best film I watched in 2024. Everything from the cinematography to the music is just damn near perfect to me. Greta Lee’s portrayal of an immigrant Korean-Canadian making their life in NYC is not something I can directly relate to, but I found her part convincing nonetheless (and in parallel with some of the stories of my friends who do identify with her character’s journey).

The movie is a quiet masterpiece of cinema from one scene to the next; A love story without the word love uttered, reminiscing about a past that once was but will never be again, and the threads of time and life that get interwoven in the process of two people meeting again.

The soundtrack is fantastic as well, with the song “See You” getting heavy rotation on my train and bike rides in the city. It’s also used in this compilation video below. It makes me sad and happy at the same time — I kind of like it.