What are your favorite love stories? As always, if you want to support my work, feel free to check out my Patreon page: www.patreon.com/LikeStoriesofOld
My favorite love story is a real one... two women in Germany during WWII. Their names were Lilly and Felice. The film made about their story doesn't really capture how beautiful that doomed love was.
I liked Past Lives, but my favourite love story of 2023 was the Korean movie 'Soulmate'. A truly beautiful piece that leaves no fibre of your heart untouched. Itself is a remake of the Chinese film of the same name from 2020, which is possible even more wonderful and highly recommended.
Shifting from “loving who leaves” to “loving who stays” was a powerful paradigm shift I experienced in my 30s and a stepping stone to learning how to love myself for the first time.
@@samreplete1842 Loving who leaves is yearning for people who are gone and things beyond you and your influence, loving who stays is accepting who you have and the things that you need to recognise have been good for you all along.
While this is of course, mainly about Nora & Haesung, I can't help but love Arthur so much. So much understanding and empathy from him. So much trust and love. I only wish to find an Arthur in my life.
@@caiorezende5862 I agree, Arthur is the model of real love. He trusted Nora completely and put his own feelings aside so that Nora could be at peace with her relationship with Haesung. This real love - putting your partner ahead of yourself.
@phongthehun1721actual mature women don't use words like BETA. Incels who drowned their lives with social media..men or women..(boys or girls) those are the only ones who use that.
My Grandma met a man named Arthur and had two little sisters for my Mom. She loved him so much and he loved his girls...he sounded like such a good man. He tried every day to prove his love and his daughters still remember that. My Grandma never forgot. So, yeah...that name really resonates with me and seems so appropriate for the character....for me personally.
"The way time eventually narrows down the boundless potential for possible life directions into a concrete and singular reality" Damn man, I came here for film analysis not an existential crisis
I had a feeling of nostalgia brought on by connecting with an old friend from my 20's. I now understand what I was nostalgic about: the time when bountless life directions were still possible. Even if I 've done well and I m generally happy, I still miss that feeling of not knowing.
My favorite part about the movie were the slow yet intentional scenes. Most of the communication between the two actors was via eye-contact and a lack of dialogue made their chemistry so much more complex and meaningful.
This film was deeply moving. And absolutely poetic- it watched like an extended haiku poem. It was so deeply moving and elegant and strangely hopeful. The depiction of the men in this film was so incredible. And Nora’s character- so quietly self assured- it was just masterful.
Not until you realize how circumstances outside your control could have changed who you end up in a relationship with, that you start to understand how much it is also a deliberate decision that you maintain and work that relationship. Circumstances might be arbitrary but relationships are not.
I state this a lot. Love knows know bounds. They had a friendship that turned to love over time and the feelings sustained. This alone doesn't mean they would end up together, but their affinity remains. Studies show that 77% of people do not marry the love of their life. Most people marry when they are ready. So, I love how you stated this in your last sentence. Brilliant.
What, that is absolutely wrong . The act of even deciding of staying and working on a relationship is fundamentally arbitrary.Nobody fundamentally has any control over their life.Humans as it stands don’t have free will ( in my personal experience).
I turned 50 last year and found Past Lives deeply comforting. A similar age to Jesse and Celina; I adore the Before Trilogy and identify with the over-thinking and “what-if” themes. Having spent time contemplating passions of the past 35 years “Past Lives” helped me find peace for the next 35. Que sera sera in the dance of destiny vs free will.
Past Lives was okay, but its not on the same level goodness as the Before Trilogy. Past lives was severely underwritten, gimmicky and the conversations are mediocre at best. It was only saved by its really good cinematography. More like a style over substance kind of film.
@@coleslow5519 apologies for hurting your small ego. Last time I checked, my comment isn't about you or anyone. My comment is ABOUT THE MOVIE, not sure why you are offended to call me a "troll" when I specifically explained what I don't like about the film. LOL
that’s what makes the relationships we are in more meaningful. you could’ve been with anyone else in the world . But here you two are, sharing an experience together. I think that’s beautiful
OMG!!! Bruh, you are the first one to speak about what I was thinking of with this movie. To me this is a marriage story (just not the disfunctional one). anybody married or in a relationship for a long time (>10 yrs) knows what it feels like when you meet people from your spouses life that were present before you, at first it's like staring at a door to a creepy basement, but afterwards you appreciate your spouse even more because you better discover the depths of what makes them who they were when you met them.
I think there is a certain catharsis for Hae-Sung as well. That man was broken for 20 years when she suddenly left and he hasnt been able to move on. The farewell scene and the contrast between the first one and the second one with the staircases shows that much. In the first farewell, she is high above him, distant. He says a shallow goodbye as she moves on to greater heights and he is stuck on the same path. This absolutely stunted this dude emotionally, you even see it repeat again when he finds her 12 years later on Facebook. Nora is an absolute monster, not morally, but she is selfish and ambitious and he cannot keep up, he is just too ordinary. I think this is probably why his 2nd relationship didnt work out, at least it is a speculation. In the second farewell, he finally sees that he can never have Na-Young because Nora is a different person, not blatantly but she is different for him than she is for her husband. Which is a great example of perspective and love. When Hae-Sung and Nora part this time, it is more intimate. More final. Hae-Sung can finally move on.
To me its the opposite. He finds out that Nora was ordinary. She could never become the Pulitzer winning writer she dreamed of becoming. The main reason she left him. But he just remained in his life while she went back to being someone else's girlfriend.
I thought that Nora in her 20s was pragmatic. Not selfish. Neither Nora or Hae-Sung were living their lives as they ran to their computers to talk to each other. They both planned to just take a break and in a year or so when it is possible to meet soon, then continue talking. But they both met other people. Nora never saw Hae-Sung as ordinary and I think she felt sad that he talked about himself like that. It also highlighted the culture differences between them. He is the pragmatic one now, not sure if he can marry because of his income even though he cares about his girlfriend. The conversation in the bar at the end explained everything. Nora tells Hae-Sung, you loved a girl who isn't here anymore but she did exist 12 years ago. He says he sees now the person he likes, he was destined to never be with by her nature.
As someone in their mid-thirties who recently has spent a lot of time reconnecting with childhood friends, I'm surprised at how little people actually change. I think most of what we are as people is inherent, and no matter what paths we go down in life we mostly end up where we would be anyway.
I would have until the last few years accepted your point. Bizarely that changes much later in life. I felt the same as you until i went the wrong side of 55. Suddenly some people really changed dramatically. Grief, bitterness, regret, loss and dissapointment can fundamentally change even the most kind and optimistic people and for others turn them into kind and gentle people.
I disagree…I did most of my changing and growing in my 30s. I’ve had the honor of being around a lot of people who have grown and changed in their lives! And of course some who haven’t.
@@deadjester you are both right and both wrong. Yes there are parts of us that are intrinsically who we are - our inner nature and 'essence'. Parts of us that evolve through life as we become more real with ourselves and the false masks are removed. Have a read of my life story that I have posted here in the comments and you'll understand my comments to both of you.
I don't know how else to put it, but your videos have always felt like a kind of prayer to me. I think it's because of the respect and meditation you put into each one
Yeah I can agree with that sentiment. But it's just a sentiment. In reality, your videos just bring us back to the brutality of life and show us what it's like having the door slammed in our face again. We like to forget. To put it out of our mind. Pretend it's all behind us. But in truth, it's a cold, hard reminder of the futility and brutality of life that is always with us, no matter how much we wish we could forget.
Radical acceptance, realising mundaneness of the brutality of life, and seeing the futality of all these complexities of life's nitty gritties- really helps to accept life. It's not cognitive dissonace at all, but seeing life to it's true form. Rather than attaching negetive emotions to life...❤ @@SusannaSaunders
As someone who moved abroad from a younger age with my family , this movie spoke to me in so many levels even when my cultural background is different, it really captivated the challenges of growing up in a different place but still having that fun memories of the place you once call home. The husband is also an incredible writen character because while he had difficulty understanding the situation, he fully trusted her and that just showed how much he loved her. This movie was a 10/10 for me
I think this is the best video essay I've seen so far about Past Lives. Especially that of the immigrant experience of being a kid but old enough to have had forged memories and relationships. I cried when you mentioned this in your video. I moved to the States when I was 19 so I was already an "adult" but still very much a kid, tbh. I have this romantization of the nostalgic parts of my childhood, of the friends, the crushes, the people I had relationships with (romantic or not). But then I forged my own new memories in the US and every day the romantization faded. In my 30s now and that romantization is almost non-existent. They are warm memories, sure. But I am a completely different person now than when I was 18/19, crying because I probably won't see my friends and crushes again.
Nora definitely believes in destiny, as she is set to become a great writer, first wanting to win the Nobel, then the Pulitzer and finally conforming with a Tony: She always adjusts her dreams and expectations to her reality, which is also reflcted on her love life. Great as usual, Tom!!! Thanx!!!
I disagree somewhat, by the last section in her thirties when Ha Sung asks her what she wants to win, she doesn't know and it takes her a long time to answer because she hasn't thought about it for a long time. She's adjusted to her current life, become more realistic and less idealistic than at a young age. To me this showed her maturity, and reinforces the 'we were babies then/we're not babies anymore' conversation. Whether this is relevant to her belief in destiny I'll leave up for debate.
I have been in this situation. I have discovered that unrequited love is a dream, a fantasy. This beautifully discusses how the past often needs to remain what it is. Gorgeous review of a lovely film.
This movie left me with uncertain emotions. I liked it, but the feelings it left me with were both painful and hopeful. Painful for Hae Sung, hopeful for Nora and Arthur. This video has helped me to reprocess those feelings and see the movie in a different light. Tremendous
But the whole time I was feeling the pain of Arthur if Nora & Hae Sung eloped to Korea. I think that pain would be worse because it seems more unjust, & Arthur seems the most genuinely selfless of the 3. Hae Sung & Nora didn’t work out because of their own selfish choices. Perhaps the only reason Nora & Arthur did work out is because of the selfless love of Arthur. As Hae Sung said of Nora “you are the one who leaves” but of Arthur he says “Arthur is the one who doesn’t leave.”
I think what makes Past Lives such a great love story is that it’s not about love. I would say its greatest themes are time and language. How does time shape us? How about language? There’s so much that is unsaid in the film that makes us wonder, but it also makes us cling onto what IS said.
Every now & then I’ll start thinking about the present time 10 years into the future & thinking about the opportunity I had/have to make that moment great & memorable here & now. It’s as if I’m time traveling. Helps me to not get distracted & actually pay close attention to the people I’m with. I do not want those regrets 10 years from now.
I think the movie is riding about the two lanes of love and identity and loss of one through the other. I don't think it's as much about the loss of love for nora than it's her struggles about her identity. Her past culminates into her struggle of realizing what her true identity is. This, she navigates through Hae-sung. Let me Explain! In the first farewell, the decision of immigration didn't have much emotional weight for Nora because it wasn't her own. AND Because it wasn't her own, the loss didn't feel like hers (of her past life and hae-sung). We don't see her under it's burden 12 years later. She has her said identity in the states, her dreams and she is satisfied. In the second farewell, we see her reminiscing her past and in that process reconnecting with Hae sung. Their rekindled connection breaks open the pandora box, the question of choice, OF IDENTITY. She's thinking about moving to Korea but that would mean leaving her career behind, the reason she immigrated for in the first place. The life, the identity she's build until now to pursue it. Would she abandon an identity she has BUILD (in states) for an identity that she has BUILD OVER (of korea)? She has a choice... to once again, leave an identity she's build in the states for an identity that is a past. And she chooses to stay, her present is her (true) identity she decides to not abandon for someone from the past (she thinks). Since this was her choice, of a life not chosen, a path not taken, she has to bear the burden of its loss. It's a struggle of 'Did I choose who I was?' 'Did I choose the real me?' 12 years later, we see her married. In the second farewell, she bets on her ambitions for settling her conflicts in the future and breaksup with Hae-sung. However, her career didn't really fill her expectations and fill her void of 'who am I?'. She is in her phase of realizations, that nothing in life can make up for the the answer of 'WHO AM I?' And now she must face it...that ambition didn't give her any answers. She is struggling again... to find herself. You see her inner conflict externalized through Arthur's doubts. Arthur is the voice of her inner doubts in the film. Hae-sung is the only figment she is left with, to attribute to her identity she feels lost and doesn't know where it's gone or if it's still there. Her questions of 'Where is Na-young?'. Hae-sung is the only path that takes or leads her to Na-young. The person she's searching for... if she is lost. Loss of Hae-sung is also a loss of Na-young for Nora. A final farewell to her past life. The final farewell for both, is a farewell to Na-young more than to each other. Hae-sung must realize she is Nora AND Nora must realize that she is Nora. This is what celine song said about the ending walk when Nora cries, “I knew that when she was walking home, she has to cry, but she’s not crying for the whole of the film. So this is the moment that she’s alone for the first time almost in the film. And she is able to allow herself to grieve like that. That walk is about the grief for the little girl that she never got to grieve. It’s not about, ‘oh my god, I wish I went with with Hae Sung,’ it’s more about the girl.”
I see it as the granting of permission to dwell on and even mourn the life we 'lost', the moments we never had, and relationships we didn't form while accepting the present; the life we do have, the reality that is. this film and essay are so beautiful
I still feel destined to have been with a girl I took on the most amazing weekend date ever. She even told her friends of how grandiose and spectacular it was with the result of "who is this guy?!". I knew her feelings the moment she decided -- having drove 4 hours to come see me -- "who is this girl?!". The chemistry was unreal. And the moment of her in my kitchen (after having only called her voice for that entire year) was unimaginable, and now here she was, tangible; actual, alive; an object to behold, as a focus for my love to kindle and take flame; a yellow sun-dress on fire... leaning against the kitchen top, staring at me, with the sun to her back; and then nothing. I had taken a job opportunity thinking that moment would continue, she; letting me go to have that life of adventure that she felt she couldn't have, and me thinking it was a point in my journey that would later bring me back to her. But it was not so... she found another and I, still alone... draw a smile on my face, with the happiness of the alternative; the alternate me, in some other universe that had chosen to stay...
Watching this movie was really really bittersweet. I've been in an off-on relationship for year (we both genuinely loved each other, just circumstances), few years back, she was married to someone else (I wasn't earning back then). One day she texted me, just asking about life and I felt as felt as if my entire world was falling apart. A few days later i watched this movie. I was cryface half the movie.
What I like about this story is how Hae Sung and Nora finds an explaination on why they can't be together, and they eventually found it. And him leaving, knowing they'll probably never see each other again really hurts.
1 remember seeing the trailer for this last year and I knew this was gonna be intense. This film resonates with me so much so that I had to pause it a few times as I was so emotional and crying. The themes of this film intersects with so many of my own experiences not just as an immigrant but the long distance thingy and longing for an almost impossible love. I say almost coz any of the characters can choose a different ending instead we see how the push and pull of fate and free will. So profound. As a filmmaker and actor myself, this is a gift - so grateful for this masterpiece ❤
The movie speaks how fast peoples move on..The male character still longs for her...The last 20 minutes is enough to make you cry because you cant go back and make everything okay...Bitter sweet truth of Human emotions❤🇮🇳
The female character too longs for him. He represents her past, her country, her childhood, her life. She never mourned her loss, or the changes she went through without a proper goodbye. The what could have been, the what should have been. It all comes crashing into a single scene where she truly realises, the girl from the past he once loved, is no longer her. The nature of migrating, being the child of migrant parents is very much to adjust to a new world, at times leaving the old world completely behind only to realise decades later how much you miss it.
I never felt she longed that much for him. Maybe in her twenties but she was quick to blow past him. I feel she longed less for him and he more for her because he was stuck while she was living!
“Past Lives becomes less about what could’ve been, even less so about what should have been, and more about what is fake to be, about how it defined who we are, and about reconciling ourselves with the way time eventually narrows down the boundless potential for possible life directions into a concrete and singular reality.”
This channel has really made me change the way I look at movies and inturn look at life. It makes me look at things from more perspectives and really try to understand things differently.
It is one of the best love stories ever told in a movie. It makes you think about all the “what if’s” and potential timelines you could of chosen in life… such a cathartic bittersweet plot🥺😭🙌
I love how in the story of them it was never shown that nora is an easily swayed and enticed character to the fleeting moment of joy and happiness of a childhood crush.However in the latter part it was shown that she too regrets parts of her life. For she have witnessed hae sung as someone who could be there for her. However Arthur is her Inyun and Hae Sung would only be just part of her life.
Are you kidding me?? I just watched this last night, bro. What are the odds? Read the title, jaw dropped, haven’t even watched the vid yet and I couldn’t agree more. Love you, bro! EDIT: insight on the film is on point. I loved what was done with Arthur, who, imo, is the closest thing to a hero in the film. His willingness is admirable, and despite the pain/difficulty we can see he is experiencing through the situation, the level of pure trust and compassion he has for Nora and even Hae Sung is worthy of high praise and inspiring.
@@LuisSierra42 one in 365? from a trimmed mean perspective, one in 100, when you watch every movie or leer at them on a regular basis? Moreover, one in 10, as it's the best movie of the year 2023...
I loved this movie. It was quiet, beautiful, and has me still thinking about it. It’s unfortunate that this movie will not be seen by the masses. Everything about this film is quality… The screenplay, the acting, the cinematography and how it made me feel. ❤
I think this hits really close to home for me because I recently had an opportunity to reconnect with my first love and it was a reconnection that felt authentic and real. However, it didn't lead to us getting back together. I wouldn't do that. I'm in a very happy loving 8-year relationship. It did feel very palpable though, and I really felt like we were seeing each other for who we became, as well as who we were when we knew each other and we have started to form a friendship and I think that friendship is something beautiful and real, but it will always be what it is and my life is now what it is and although I might wonder from time to time, what life would be if things were different, I also love my life where it's at now and I wouldn't change it for the world. I can exist with both of these thoughts in my head simultaneously and it doesn't make me any less. It doesn't take away from anything I have. If anything, it builds it up and makes it stronger and I really resonated with this video because of that personal connection.
This explanation of the feelings doesn't go far enough. It hovers in the present lives of them all. To really understand we need to explore the transmigration of the soul from one life experience in time and space to another; also how we are all connected in a human soul, sub-divided into group souls, and connected in twin souls. This story is familiar to me and it is the love that holds the clue, an otherwise inexplicable attraction, beyond sexual, physical love. The yin and yang of a whole soul and its recognition of the other 'self' in this low material physical dimension, is the way we reconnect, mostly just to connect, not necessarily to live happily ever after because we also need to formulate relationships with another soul.
Arthur seems the most genuinely selfless of the 3. Hae Sung & Nora didn’t work out because of their own selfish choices. Perhaps the only reason Nora & Arthur did work out is because of the selfless love of Arthur. As Hae Sung said of Nora “you are the one who leaves” but of Arthur he says “Arthur is the one who doesn’t leave.”
Im out here in freaking tears reminiscing about this movie through the analysis; and all of a sudden get hit with an Adam & Eve ad LOL 10/10 never cry-laughed so hard
Favorite quotes from this amazingly well-written video essay!! "... the way time eventually narrows down the boundless potential for possible life directions into a concrete and singular reality." "And while there is definitely some element of grief involved in becoming aware of this movement, and in the inventible contemplation of all the live that weren’t lived, all the places that weren’t stayed in, all the connections that were broken, Richard Lawson put it as “Past lives is not concerned with regret. It is instead a thoughtful, humane rumination on what may be fixed in personal history but remains forever fluid in the mind.” "There is a harmony to be found in the beautiful mingling of all our wistful pragmatic adult understanding, and that otherworldly sense that we are all floating on the winds of fate" - Richard Lawson
By contrasting Past Lives with Before Sunset (a movie that was teeming with possibility and consequence), I think this video essay brings up something interesting: the decline of free will and embrace of determinism as a concept in modern American cinema and media. Free will is the core of the normative ideal of religious sin, humans are free to choose virtue or vice, and will meet a fate corresponding to that. But determinism says it is all fated, all of your choices are codified into who you are. This has always been a fascinating thread for many scifi writers, e.g. Jorge Luis Borges with Library of Babel, or Ted Chiang with Story of Your Life, Robert Heinlein's All You Zombies etc. But core principles of popular screenwriting, such as in Robert McKee's Story, suggest that characters making choices under pressure is the most dramatic subject possible, these choices all have consequence, and these choices are all possible. The determinist view of writing though suggests that the mystery or drama does not lie in what a character will do -- that is already decided. It is in understanding why a character will do something, a cinema of empathy. This was an idea in the Matrix Reloaded as well, where the Oracle keeps telling Neo that he has already made the choice, he only comes to her to understand why. And shows like Game of Thrones, Westworld, and movies like Predestination, Arrival, etc often through a fantasy/scifi lens that allows for soothsaying or time-traveling suggests that what will happen is already fixed, you can't actually change the past or the future -- everything that could have happened has already happened (also Prisoner of Azkaban fwiw). But Past Lives is the first story, other than The Time Traveler's Wife, which I have seen do this with romance. Nora will never leave Arthur and her life behind for Hae Sung, nor will Hae Sung move to New York, unlike Jesse and Celine in Before Sunset who throw everything else out to be with each other. The decisions have all been made, some conscious, many just circumstantial, the point of the movie is to understand and accept them. Quite beautiful, how it reinterprets romantic fatalism through inn-yun.
I’m currently with someone who knows I won’t be around next year, and I know the same. Learning about this movie is a treasure and I teared up at the concept of all this. Thank you ❤
Moving to New Zealand. It's easy for me because I have citizenship through decent, but the process will be too difficult for them doesn't mesh with their life plan. So were just vibing till the time comes.@@veecee1
The quote at 6:30 really hit home for me. I moved at almost 14. 14 years in one country, going on 6 years in my new country. Not as long as Nora, but feels the same
Outstanding and amazing review ! Saw this movie a few month ago, and its depth was shocking and shaking. Seeing this aspect of our identities displayed on screen so loudly and yet without any "speech" or message rammed down our throat. As an immigrant myself I was too wrapped up in the cultural and geographical spread of these stories to go beyond like you did but you put words on all sort of feelings the movie triggered. It really has several layers to read into. All of that with obviously low budget and a dozen of character... Enough to really get you pissed at the big budget production that still manage to tell piss poor stories
When I was young I had a strong sense of destiny in various areas - partner, place I want to live in/recreate, type of people around me.... Now at 46 I have no sense of destiny. Anything is possible.
Exquisite video as always, really helped me to refine what I think about this memorable film. And that ad read was masterful, the most discretely tasteful I've heard for Adam n Eve :)))
There's a consistent visual metaphor in the movie - left=past, right=future. Notice how they break the 180 degree rule when Nora has her first kiss with Arthur? In the final scene, she walks left to farewell Hae-Sung, then walks right to go back to Arthur. You can see it in basically every scene.
That's interesting. Based on this, I also noticed that when we last see Hae-sung, he is heading right in the cap. This could mean that he is finally moving forward, after being stuck on Nora for so long.
For our lives to be different than what they currently are the whole universe would need to shift from the start to the current point. Nothing is truly random coincendence or circumstance. The people we meet and date is something within us that manifested it and brought it our reality.
This is just going to be a small aside. I just realized a delightful small touch that is in the movie by watching your video. When he is outside the hotel lighting a cigarette an umbrella passes by. I ❤NY. Nora Yu. Or whatever is her surname.
I love the way you deliver your thoughts about this film. Your video is like a wine or a cigarette after watching that film, I could almost taste it deeper and deeper
Brings back the memories of watching the movie "96" for the first time especially after my breakup. It also has a similar plot. Need more stories like these.
I was really excited when I first saw this trailer. Even bought it. Then some thing happened. Something... similar. I haven't been able to watch it fully, although I seemingly already knew what it was trying to say. This video said a word that ive been feeling, and because of that, I think im ready to see it through. Thank you.
Honestly, I've watched the film _Shortcomings_ and _Past Lives_ within 2 weeks of each other in the the cinema and I feel like both make a really good double feature. They both have Asian leads and they both deal with the changes people make. Shortcomings is more comedic while Past Lives is more contemplative. If you watched both, Shortcomings and then Past Lives, I feel like you'll get a whole that is more than the sum of it's parts.
Loved your commentary, I've just watched it yesterday, but I wonder why you didn't talked about Nora's crying at the end? I found it the epitome expression of the middle between nihilism and realism, as you said...
I used to think souls, god and most of religious stuff was silly and through experience I have changed my opinion, I do think there are people we are meant to meet and have relationships with so that we can learn and teach each other, its like something that was meant to happen one way or another, I do believe life is very simple from a material view, but to those who search and want to know, answers do come, but you have to ask, answers come to those who want to know.
I really love her with her husband. I think he’s perfect for her. It’s the vibe and the feeling they share and the genuine love he has for her. I pray I can move on from my first love 😊❤ I’m ready now
한국에 드디어 이 영화가 개봉을 했네요~. 한국에서는 한국말이 나올 때 자막이 없고 영어가 나올 때 자막이 나오는데, 영어권국가에서 이 영화를 볼 때는 한국어가 나올 때 자막이 나오는 묘미가 있겠네요^^. 그러고 보니 비영어권, 비한국어권 국가에서는 다 자막으로 볼 수도 있겠네요. 그렇더라도 모두에게 '인연'이 닿기를 기대합니다 :)
Thank you for the review/meditation, because this is one film I probably could never watch. Other people also made decisions that parted me from the love of my life. Yet others made decisions that delayed my return. A pandemic did not help. She married another man. Unlike the character in that film there is no way I would ever even think of coming between her and her husband, and I will never know the guy, it'd be too painful. AlI I can say is I guess she must have not thought of me as her true love. True love waits. But yet I still love her more than any other person in the world. It kills me a little every day. Films like this are kind of rough on my mental health! But I'd probably appreciate the cinema, so it was wonderful enjoying this little bit of film art in a manageable way!
For me, "Past Lives" is Makoto Shinkai's "50 Centimeters Per Second" but if they finally met in the end and realized they have turned out to be different people after all those years.
Not one person is like the other. No one that has ever lived and will ever live is like you. There is a unique wonder that resides in ever single person. Sometimes we have the gift of really "seeing" a person. And even rarer are the times when we see them and fall in love. Arthur was just a writer who liked the same books as she did and they just so happened to be in that same place. Yes; but more so I believe they saw a part of a eachother noone else ever has. A wonder about them...and thats what bound them together.
You’ll be lucky if you can ever see yourself for who you really are. Most of us still haven’t fully become who we are. I’ve seen glimpses of my true self but very short lived. It’s a burst of excitement at the thought of being unlimited potential freedom, not hinged to the sum of your life’s decisions which created a self reputation.
I cannot imagine the pain. He came to New York from South korea and has to go back . That ll be the only thing running on his mind. During, after and maybe till he lets it go.
This film would've made more sense to me if they were 15/16 years old when they were separated to have the sense of romantic love lost. At twelve with only one date at a park with their mom's watching on the bench, is a stretch. As someone who's lived as an expat for years, Nora's tears reminded me how I felt when my daughter's friend came to visit from my home town and when she left to go back, I felt like my past life experience, my old house and neighbors etc was leaving with her. Nora being an expat in NYC, not having the chance to speak her language etc was heightened nostalgia more than romance in my opinion.
What are your favorite love stories?
As always, if you want to support my work, feel free to check out my Patreon page: www.patreon.com/LikeStoriesofOld
The Adam and Eve sponsorship had to be a weird email😅.
My favorite love story is a real one... two women in Germany during WWII. Their names were Lilly and Felice. The film made about their story doesn't really capture how beautiful that doomed love was.
Before Sunrise. It just felt so natural how the two people fell in love with each other.
Just pure without overdramatic nonsense but still not boring
I liked Past Lives, but my favourite love story of 2023 was the Korean movie 'Soulmate'. A truly beautiful piece that leaves no fibre of your heart untouched.
Itself is a remake of the Chinese film of the same name from 2020, which is possible even more wonderful and highly recommended.
The movie "Once" captures a similar sense of the one who leaves and the one who stays.
Shifting from “loving who leaves” to “loving who stays” was a powerful paradigm shift I experienced in my 30s and a stepping stone to learning how to love myself for the first time.
Can you give an example of what do you mean by it? Thanks.
@@samreplete1842 Loving who leaves is yearning for people who are gone and things beyond you and your influence, loving who stays is accepting who you have and the things that you need to recognise have been good for you all along.
wait until your 40s. Another huge shift.
can you elaborate?@@KickAssAndChewBubblegum
Omg i just turned 30 and I learned this the hard way. I mean, i know it in theory but I only got to totally accept it as i mature and grow old.
While this is of course, mainly about Nora & Haesung, I can't help but love Arthur so much. So much understanding and empathy from him. So much trust and love. I only wish to find an Arthur in my life.
for me the real love story in this film is between Arthur and Nora. what a guy and what a beautiful and caring relationship they have
@@caiorezende5862 I agree, Arthur is the model of real love. He trusted Nora completely and put his own feelings aside so that Nora could be at peace with her relationship with Haesung. This real love - putting your partner ahead of yourself.
I think he was so mature..that i realized i am so far from that. Amd she wwas so honest as well. Very mature.
@phongthehun1721actual mature women don't use words like BETA. Incels who drowned their lives with social media..men or women..(boys or girls) those are the only ones who use that.
My Grandma met a man named Arthur and had two little sisters for my Mom. She loved him so much and he loved his girls...he sounded like such a good man. He tried every day to prove his love and his daughters still remember that. My Grandma never forgot. So, yeah...that name really resonates with me and seems so appropriate for the character....for me personally.
"The way time eventually narrows down the boundless potential for possible life directions into a concrete and singular reality"
Damn man, I came here for film analysis not an existential crisis
RiP
I had a feeling of nostalgia brought on by connecting with an old friend from my 20's. I now understand what I was nostalgic about: the time when bountless life directions were still possible. Even if I 've done well and I m generally happy, I still miss that feeling of not knowing.
love this...yes, existential crisis
My favorite part about the movie were the slow yet intentional scenes. Most of the communication between the two actors was via eye-contact and a lack of dialogue made their chemistry so much more complex and meaningful.
This film was deeply moving. And absolutely poetic- it watched like an extended haiku poem. It was so deeply moving and elegant and strangely hopeful. The depiction of the men in this film was so incredible. And Nora’s character- so quietly self assured- it was just masterful.
Not until you realize how circumstances outside your control could have changed who you end up in a relationship with, that you start to understand how much it is also a deliberate decision that you maintain and work that relationship. Circumstances might be arbitrary but relationships are not.
I state this a lot. Love knows know bounds. They had a friendship that turned to love over time and the feelings sustained. This alone doesn't mean they would end up together, but their affinity remains. Studies show that 77% of people do not marry the love of their life. Most people marry when they are ready. So, I love how you stated this in your last sentence. Brilliant.
What, that is absolutely wrong . The act of even deciding of staying and working on a relationship is fundamentally arbitrary.Nobody fundamentally has any control over their life.Humans as it stands don’t have free will ( in my personal experience).
I turned 50 last year and found Past Lives deeply comforting. A similar age to Jesse and Celina; I adore the Before Trilogy and identify with the over-thinking and “what-if” themes. Having spent time contemplating passions of the past 35 years “Past Lives” helped me find peace for the next 35. Que sera sera in the dance of destiny vs free will.
Past Lives was okay, but its not on the same level goodness as the Before Trilogy. Past lives was severely underwritten, gimmicky and the conversations are mediocre at best. It was only saved by its really good cinematography. More like a style over substance kind of film.
@@meursault.1984 He's talking about his life outlook and love of cinema, you are talking about a meaningless comparison of A vs B.
love it
@@meursault.1984 Such a troll. I bet you leave this comment on every person who complements this film.
@@coleslow5519 apologies for hurting your small ego. Last time I checked, my comment isn't about you or anyone. My comment is ABOUT THE MOVIE, not sure why you are offended to call me a "troll" when I specifically explained what I don't like about the film. LOL
that’s what makes the relationships we are in more meaningful. you could’ve been with anyone else in the world . But here you two are, sharing an experience together. I think that’s beautiful
OMG!!! Bruh, you are the first one to speak about what I was thinking of with this movie. To me this is a marriage story (just not the disfunctional one). anybody married or in a relationship for a long time (>10 yrs) knows what it feels like when you meet people from your spouses life that were present before you, at first it's like staring at a door to a creepy basement, but afterwards you appreciate your spouse even more because you better discover the depths of what makes them who they were when you met them.
YES! I have been going through this just over the last week, then I happened to watch the film (fate)
I think there is a certain catharsis for Hae-Sung as well. That man was broken for 20 years when she suddenly left and he hasnt been able to move on. The farewell scene and the contrast between the first one and the second one with the staircases shows that much. In the first farewell, she is high above him, distant. He says a shallow goodbye as she moves on to greater heights and he is stuck on the same path. This absolutely stunted this dude emotionally, you even see it repeat again when he finds her 12 years later on Facebook. Nora is an absolute monster, not morally, but she is selfish and ambitious and he cannot keep up, he is just too ordinary. I think this is probably why his 2nd relationship didnt work out, at least it is a speculation.
In the second farewell, he finally sees that he can never have Na-Young because Nora is a different person, not blatantly but she is different for him than she is for her husband. Which is a great example of perspective and love. When Hae-Sung and Nora part this time, it is more intimate. More final. Hae-Sung can finally move on.
To me its the opposite. He finds out that Nora was ordinary. She could never become the Pulitzer winning writer she dreamed of becoming. The main reason she left him. But he just remained in his life while she went back to being someone else's girlfriend.
@@Valkyri3Z hmm i can see that too. Maybe he got disillusioned by her?
@@sinshenlong not really. He accepted her nature. He realised she was someone who leaves.
I thought that Nora in her 20s was pragmatic. Not selfish. Neither Nora or Hae-Sung were living their lives as they ran to their computers to talk to each other. They both planned to just take a break and in a year or so when it is possible to meet soon, then continue talking. But they both met other people.
Nora never saw Hae-Sung as ordinary and I think she felt sad that he talked about himself like that. It also highlighted the culture differences between them. He is the pragmatic one now, not sure if he can marry because of his income even though he cares about his girlfriend.
The conversation in the bar at the end explained everything. Nora tells Hae-Sung, you loved a girl who isn't here anymore but she did exist 12 years ago. He says he sees now the person he likes, he was destined to never be with by her nature.
Hae sung is stupid if he really liked her why not meet her and tell her about his feeling when she came to korea with Arthur before they got married.
As someone in their mid-thirties who recently has spent a lot of time reconnecting with childhood friends, I'm surprised at how little people actually change. I think most of what we are as people is inherent, and no matter what paths we go down in life we mostly end up where we would be anyway.
I would have until the last few years accepted your point.
Bizarely that changes much later in life.
I felt the same as you until i went the wrong side of 55. Suddenly some people really changed dramatically. Grief, bitterness, regret, loss and dissapointment can fundamentally change even the most kind and optimistic people and for others turn them into kind and gentle people.
I disagree…I did most of my changing and growing in my 30s. I’ve had the honor of being around a lot of people who have grown and changed in their lives! And of course some who haven’t.
@@deadjester you are both right and both wrong. Yes there are parts of us that are intrinsically who we are - our inner nature and 'essence'. Parts of us that evolve through life as we become more real with ourselves and the false masks are removed. Have a read of my life story that I have posted here in the comments and you'll understand my comments to both of you.
that is so beautifully said@@deadjester
Some evolve some reach their authentic selves, some stay in their shells the same , some get broken...
I don't know how else to put it, but your videos have always felt like a kind of prayer to me. I think it's because of the respect and meditation you put into each one
Yeah I can agree with that sentiment. But it's just a sentiment. In reality, your videos just bring us back to the brutality of life and show us what it's like having the door slammed in our face again. We like to forget. To put it out of our mind. Pretend it's all behind us. But in truth, it's a cold, hard reminder of the futility and brutality of life that is always with us, no matter how much we wish we could forget.
I saw this exact comment elsewhere. This is a copy pasta.
Radical acceptance, realising mundaneness of the brutality of life, and seeing the futality of all these complexities of life's nitty gritties- really helps to accept life. It's not cognitive dissonace at all, but seeing life to it's true form. Rather than attaching negetive emotions to life...❤ @@SusannaSaunders
As someone who moved abroad from a younger age with my family , this movie spoke to me in so many levels even when my cultural background is different, it really captivated the challenges of growing up in a different place but still having that fun memories of the place you once call home. The husband is also an incredible writen character because while he had difficulty understanding the situation, he fully trusted her and that just showed how much he loved her. This movie was a 10/10 for me
YES!
I think this is the best video essay I've seen so far about Past Lives. Especially that of the immigrant experience of being a kid but old enough to have had forged memories and relationships. I cried when you mentioned this in your video. I moved to the States when I was 19 so I was already an "adult" but still very much a kid, tbh. I have this romantization of the nostalgic parts of my childhood, of the friends, the crushes, the people I had relationships with (romantic or not). But then I forged my own new memories in the US and every day the romantization faded. In my 30s now and that romantization is almost non-existent. They are warm memories, sure. But I am a completely different person now than when I was 18/19, crying because I probably won't see my friends and crushes again.
Nora definitely believes in destiny, as she is set to become a great writer, first wanting to win the Nobel, then the Pulitzer and finally conforming with a Tony: She always adjusts her dreams and expectations to her reality, which is also reflcted on her love life. Great as usual, Tom!!! Thanx!!!
I disagree somewhat, by the last section in her thirties when Ha Sung asks her what she wants to win, she doesn't know and it takes her a long time to answer because she hasn't thought about it for a long time. She's adjusted to her current life, become more realistic and less idealistic than at a young age. To me this showed her maturity, and reinforces the 'we were babies then/we're not babies anymore' conversation. Whether this is relevant to her belief in destiny I'll leave up for debate.
Love the idea that the film is about connecting with her past, reconciling with something she had forgotten
I can't get over that this was a first feature, it's so emotionally articulate - masterfully so. What a talent Song is.
I have been in this situation. I have discovered that unrequited love is a dream, a fantasy. This beautifully discusses how the past often needs to remain what it is. Gorgeous review of a lovely film.
This movie left me with uncertain emotions. I liked it, but the feelings it left me with were both painful and hopeful. Painful for Hae Sung, hopeful for Nora and Arthur. This video has helped me to reprocess those feelings and see the movie in a different light. Tremendous
But the whole time I was feeling the pain of Arthur if Nora & Hae Sung eloped to Korea. I think that pain would be worse because it seems more unjust, & Arthur seems the most genuinely selfless of the 3. Hae Sung & Nora didn’t work out because of their own selfish choices. Perhaps the only reason Nora & Arthur did work out is because of the selfless love of Arthur. As Hae Sung said of Nora “you are the one who leaves” but of Arthur he says “Arthur is the one who doesn’t leave.”
I think what makes Past Lives such a great love story is that it’s not about love. I would say its greatest themes are time and language. How does time shape us? How about language? There’s so much that is unsaid in the film that makes us wonder, but it also makes us cling onto what IS said.
Every now & then I’ll start thinking about the present time 10 years into the future & thinking about the opportunity I had/have to make that moment great & memorable here & now. It’s as if I’m time traveling. Helps me to not get distracted & actually pay close attention to the people I’m with. I do not want those regrets 10 years from now.
I think the movie is riding about the two lanes of love and identity and loss of one through the other. I don't think it's as much about the loss of love for nora than it's her struggles about her identity. Her past culminates into her struggle of realizing what her true identity is. This, she navigates through Hae-sung. Let me Explain!
In the first farewell, the decision of immigration didn't have much emotional weight for Nora because it wasn't her own. AND Because it wasn't her own, the loss didn't feel like hers (of her past life and hae-sung). We don't see her under it's burden 12 years later.
She has her said identity in the states, her dreams and she is satisfied.
In the second farewell, we see her reminiscing her past and in that process reconnecting with Hae sung. Their rekindled connection breaks open the pandora box, the question of choice, OF IDENTITY. She's thinking about moving to Korea but that would mean leaving her career behind, the reason she immigrated for in the first place. The life, the identity she's build until now to pursue it.
Would she abandon an identity she has BUILD (in states) for an identity that she has BUILD OVER (of korea)?
She has a choice... to once again, leave an identity she's build in the states for an identity that is a past.
And she chooses to stay, her present is her (true) identity she decides to not abandon for someone from the past (she thinks).
Since this was her choice, of a life not chosen, a path not taken, she has to bear the burden of its loss.
It's a struggle of 'Did I choose who I was?' 'Did I choose the real me?'
12 years later, we see her married. In the second farewell, she bets on her ambitions for settling her conflicts in the future and breaksup with Hae-sung.
However, her career didn't really fill her expectations and fill her void of 'who am I?'. She is in her phase of realizations, that nothing in life can make up for the the answer of 'WHO AM I?' And now she must face it...that ambition didn't give her any answers.
She is struggling again... to find herself.
You see her inner conflict externalized through Arthur's doubts. Arthur is the voice of her inner doubts in the film.
Hae-sung is the only figment she is left with, to attribute to her identity she feels lost and doesn't know where it's gone or if it's still there.
Her questions of 'Where is Na-young?'.
Hae-sung is the only path that takes or leads her to Na-young. The person she's searching for... if she is lost.
Loss of Hae-sung is also a loss of Na-young for Nora. A final farewell to her past life.
The final farewell for both, is a farewell to Na-young more than to each other. Hae-sung must realize she is Nora AND Nora must realize that she is Nora.
This is what celine song said about the ending walk when Nora cries,
“I knew that when she was walking home, she has to cry, but she’s not crying for the whole of the film. So this is the moment that she’s alone for the first time almost in the film. And she is able to allow herself to grieve like that. That walk is about the grief for the little girl that she never got to grieve. It’s not about, ‘oh my god, I wish I went with with Hae Sung,’ it’s more about the girl.”
I see it as the granting of permission to dwell on and even mourn the life we 'lost', the moments we never had, and relationships we didn't form while accepting the present; the life we do have, the reality that is. this film and essay are so beautiful
La La Land gave me similar thoughts. But that relationship felt more productive. This relationship (Nora & Hae Sung) in many ways never happened.
This is it. Thank you for putting this into words.
I still feel destined to have been with a girl I took on the most amazing weekend date ever. She even told her friends of how grandiose and spectacular it was with the result of "who is this guy?!". I knew her feelings the moment she decided -- having drove 4 hours to come see me -- "who is this girl?!". The chemistry was unreal. And the moment of her in my kitchen (after having only called her voice for that entire year) was unimaginable, and now here she was, tangible; actual, alive; an object to behold, as a focus for my love to kindle and take flame; a yellow sun-dress on fire... leaning against the kitchen top, staring at me, with the sun to her back; and then nothing. I had taken a job opportunity thinking that moment would continue, she; letting me go to have that life of adventure that she felt she couldn't have, and me thinking it was a point in my journey that would later bring me back to her. But it was not so... she found another and I, still alone... draw a smile on my face, with the happiness of the alternative; the alternate me, in some other universe that had chosen to stay...
I understand you, in ways that I cannot communicate through text.
That's rough buddy.
That's though, man. But you put that into words beautifully
Wowwwww…
That’s almost prose poetry there… a little more dramatic effect. 👍
Watching this movie was really really bittersweet. I've been in an off-on relationship for year (we both genuinely loved each other, just circumstances), few years back, she was married to someone else (I wasn't earning back then). One day she texted me, just asking about life and I felt as felt as if my entire world was falling apart. A few days later i watched this movie. I was cryface half the movie.
I loved your analysis of the film. You almost made me cry. Love your video.
What I like about this story is how Hae Sung and Nora finds an explaination on why they can't be together, and they eventually found it. And him leaving, knowing they'll probably never see each other again really hurts.
8:07 I'm floored by your articulateness. All these things I'm constantly thinking about yet can never put into words. Thank you.
1 remember seeing the trailer for this last year and I knew this was gonna be intense. This film resonates with me so much so that I had to pause it a few times as I was so emotional and crying. The themes of this film intersects with so many of my own experiences not just as an immigrant but the long distance thingy and longing for an almost impossible love. I say almost coz any of the characters can choose a different ending instead we see how the push and pull of fate and free will. So profound. As a filmmaker and actor myself, this is a gift - so grateful for this masterpiece ❤
The movie speaks how fast peoples move on..The male character still longs for her...The last 20 minutes is enough to make you cry because you cant go back and make everything okay...Bitter sweet truth of Human emotions❤🇮🇳
The female character too longs for him. He represents her past, her country, her childhood, her life. She never mourned her loss, or the changes she went through without a proper goodbye. The what could have been, the what should have been. It all comes crashing into a single scene where she truly realises, the girl from the past he once loved, is no longer her.
The nature of migrating, being the child of migrant parents is very much to adjust to a new world, at times leaving the old world completely behind only to realise decades later how much you miss it.
I never felt she longed that much for him. Maybe in her twenties but she was quick to blow past him. I feel she longed less for him and he more for her because he was stuck while she was living!
@@michaelpowers6551 absolutely she realised in the last that he was the one she could have given a try hence she cried at the end..
“Past Lives becomes less about what could’ve been, even less so about what should have been, and more about what is fake to be, about how it defined who we are, and about reconciling ourselves with the way time eventually narrows down the boundless potential for possible life directions into a concrete and singular reality.”
This channel has really made me change the way I look at movies and inturn look at life. It makes me look at things from more perspectives and really try to understand things differently.
Totally fell in love with the movie yesterday and appreciate your take on it
It is one of the best love stories ever told in a movie. It makes you think about all the “what if’s” and potential timelines you could of chosen in life… such a cathartic bittersweet plot🥺😭🙌
What a great transition to your sponsor. I've never gone from teary eyed to laughing so quickly
Tying Adam and Eve in with Past Lives made me laugh so hard I snot-rocketed on my laptop.
I get the humour but it’s not that funny to me
this was the comment I was looking for
I actually thought it was done rather tastefully, but I also have a suspicion European audiences discuss intimacy differently than others
@@justtalkingaboutnothing Same
this movie is so brilliant, i've felt invested in every second of this movie. its that special. a very well made movie.
I love how in the story of them it was never shown that nora is an easily swayed and enticed character to the fleeting moment of joy and happiness of a childhood crush.However in the latter part it was shown that she too regrets parts of her life. For she have witnessed hae sung as someone who could be there for her. However Arthur is her Inyun and Hae Sung would only be just part of her life.
Was not ready for that ad sponsor transition 😂😂
Are you kidding me??
I just watched this last night, bro. What are the odds?
Read the title, jaw dropped, haven’t even watched the vid yet and I couldn’t agree more.
Love you, bro!
EDIT: insight on the film is on point. I loved what was done with Arthur, who, imo, is the closest thing to a hero in the film. His willingness is admirable, and despite the pain/difficulty we can see he is experiencing through the situation, the level of pure trust and compassion he has for Nora and even Hae Sung is worthy of high praise and inspiring.
It looks like Fate works in mysterious ways
@@LuisSierra42 one in 365? from a trimmed mean perspective, one in 100, when you watch every movie or leer at them on a regular basis? Moreover, one in 10, as it's the best movie of the year 2023...
I loved this movie. It was quiet, beautiful, and has me still thinking about it. It’s unfortunate that this movie will not be seen by the masses. Everything about this film is quality… The screenplay, the acting, the cinematography and how it made me feel. ❤
I think this hits really close to home for me because I recently had an opportunity to reconnect with my first love and it was a reconnection that felt authentic and real. However, it didn't lead to us getting back together. I wouldn't do that. I'm in a very happy loving 8-year relationship. It did feel very palpable though, and I really felt like we were seeing each other for who we became, as well as who we were when we knew each other and we have started to form a friendship and I think that friendship is something beautiful and real, but it will always be what it is and my life is now what it is and although I might wonder from time to time, what life would be if things were different, I also love my life where it's at now and I wouldn't change it for the world. I can exist with both of these thoughts in my head simultaneously and it doesn't make me any less. It doesn't take away from anything I have. If anything, it builds it up and makes it stronger and I really resonated with this video because of that personal connection.
This was so beautiful and I am so so happy that you have all that Love in your life 🥹💗
This explanation of the feelings doesn't go far enough. It hovers in the present lives of them all. To really understand we need to explore the transmigration of the soul from one life experience in time and space to another; also how we are all connected in a human soul, sub-divided into group souls, and connected in twin souls.
This story is familiar to me and it is the love that holds the clue, an otherwise inexplicable attraction, beyond sexual, physical love. The yin and yang of a whole soul and its recognition of the other 'self' in this low material physical dimension, is the way we reconnect, mostly just to connect, not necessarily to live happily ever after because we also need to formulate relationships with another soul.
The look on Arthur’s face when Nora says she wouldn’t miss her book thing for some dude. She doesn’t deserve Arthur.
누구나 한번쯤은 첫사랑이있을것같아요!
가슴 설레이는 첫사랑...
잔잔한 시냇물 처럼 흐르는 이 영화는 다른 로멘스영화 처럼 자극적이지않지만 .
흐르는 시냇물처럼 바닥이 보일듯말듯 보일듯하면서 여운을 남기네요.
❤❤❤
Arthur is so precious 😢
Arthur seems the most genuinely selfless of the 3. Hae Sung & Nora didn’t work out because of their own selfish choices. Perhaps the only reason Nora & Arthur did work out is because of the selfless love of Arthur. As Hae Sung said of Nora “you are the one who leaves” but of Arthur he says “Arthur is the one who doesn’t leave.”
I can’t identify what I’m feeling from this video. The inadequacy of speech is very real. But this was absolutely beautiful. Thank you.
Truly one of the greatest stories about the complexities of love.
Im out here in freaking tears reminiscing about this movie through the analysis; and all of a sudden get hit with an Adam & Eve ad LOL 10/10 never cry-laughed so hard
Your interpretation transcended this movie to a new level of excellence
Favorite quotes from this amazingly well-written video essay!! "... the way time eventually narrows down the boundless potential for possible life directions into a concrete and singular reality."
"And while there is definitely some element of grief involved in becoming aware of this movement, and in the inventible contemplation of all the live that weren’t lived, all the places that weren’t stayed in, all the connections that were broken, Richard Lawson put it as “Past lives is not concerned with regret. It is instead a thoughtful, humane rumination on what may be fixed in personal history but remains forever fluid in the mind.”
"There is a harmony to be found in the beautiful mingling of all our wistful pragmatic adult understanding, and that otherworldly sense that we are all floating on the winds of fate" - Richard Lawson
By contrasting Past Lives with Before Sunset (a movie that was teeming with possibility and consequence), I think this video essay brings up something interesting: the decline of free will and embrace of determinism as a concept in modern American cinema and media.
Free will is the core of the normative ideal of religious sin, humans are free to choose virtue or vice, and will meet a fate corresponding to that. But determinism says it is all fated, all of your choices are codified into who you are. This has always been a fascinating thread for many scifi writers, e.g. Jorge Luis Borges with Library of Babel, or Ted Chiang with Story of Your Life, Robert Heinlein's All You Zombies etc.
But core principles of popular screenwriting, such as in Robert McKee's Story, suggest that characters making choices under pressure is the most dramatic subject possible, these choices all have consequence, and these choices are all possible. The determinist view of writing though suggests that the mystery or drama does not lie in what a character will do -- that is already decided. It is in understanding why a character will do something, a cinema of empathy.
This was an idea in the Matrix Reloaded as well, where the Oracle keeps telling Neo that he has already made the choice, he only comes to her to understand why. And shows like Game of Thrones, Westworld, and movies like Predestination, Arrival, etc often through a fantasy/scifi lens that allows for soothsaying or time-traveling suggests that what will happen is already fixed, you can't actually change the past or the future -- everything that could have happened has already happened (also Prisoner of Azkaban fwiw). But Past Lives is the first story, other than The Time Traveler's Wife, which I have seen do this with romance.
Nora will never leave Arthur and her life behind for Hae Sung, nor will Hae Sung move to New York, unlike Jesse and Celine in Before Sunset who throw everything else out to be with each other. The decisions have all been made, some conscious, many just circumstantial, the point of the movie is to understand and accept them. Quite beautiful, how it reinterprets romantic fatalism through inn-yun.
I’m currently with someone who knows I won’t be around next year, and I know the same.
Learning about this movie is a treasure and I teared up at the concept of all this.
Thank you ❤
Moving to New Zealand. It's easy for me because I have citizenship through decent, but the process will be too difficult for them doesn't mesh with their life plan. So were just vibing till the time comes.@@veecee1
The quote at 6:30 really hit home for me. I moved at almost 14. 14 years in one country, going on 6 years in my new country. Not as long as Nora, but feels the same
Outstanding and amazing review !
Saw this movie a few month ago, and its depth was shocking and shaking. Seeing this aspect of our identities displayed on screen so loudly and yet without any "speech" or message rammed down our throat.
As an immigrant myself I was too wrapped up in the cultural and geographical spread of these stories to go beyond like you did but you put words on all sort of feelings the movie triggered. It really has several layers to read into.
All of that with obviously low budget and a dozen of character...
Enough to really get you pissed at the big budget production that still manage to tell piss poor stories
When I was young I had a strong sense of destiny in various areas - partner, place I want to live in/recreate, type of people around me.... Now at 46 I have no sense of destiny. Anything is possible.
Exquisite video as always, really helped me to refine what I think about this memorable film. And that ad read was masterful, the most discretely tasteful I've heard for Adam n Eve :)))
This movie pretty much spoke to 90% of what I reflect upon at this stage if my life❤😢
There's a consistent visual metaphor in the movie - left=past, right=future. Notice how they break the 180 degree rule when Nora has her first kiss with Arthur? In the final scene, she walks left to farewell Hae-Sung, then walks right to go back to Arthur. You can see it in basically every scene.
I was attending a panel with the director, and she said this exact same thing about the end scene. You are astute my friend.
That's interesting.
Based on this, I also noticed that when we last see Hae-sung, he is heading right in the cap.
This could mean that he is finally moving forward, after being stuck on Nora for so long.
This is a thoughtful critique and I found it interesting and valuable. Thank you.
For our lives to be different than what they currently are the whole universe would need to shift from the start to the current point.
Nothing is truly random coincendence or circumstance.
The people we meet and date is something within us that manifested it and brought it our reality.
The key is to make your decisions from the future so you don’t have a desire to change your past in the future.
This is just going to be a small aside. I just realized a delightful small touch that is in the movie by watching your video. When he is outside the hotel lighting a cigarette an umbrella passes by.
I ❤NY.
Nora Yu.
Or whatever is her surname.
Yesss I noticed that too!
Love the Sunset, Sunrise trillogy, my favorite romantic movies
Just watched this last night as well. Can’t wait to dive into this! Some of the best frames I’ve seen all year as well.
What an amazing analysis. Made me cry all over again with you view. Thank you so much for doing it.
you rock. thank you for all your wonderful videos. please keep up the great work.
I made an internal cheer when I saw the thumbnail. Best movie of 2023 currently for me.
I love the way you deliver your thoughts about this film. Your video is like a wine or a cigarette after watching that film, I could almost taste it deeper and deeper
Brings back the memories of watching the movie "96" for the first time especially after my breakup. It also has a similar plot. Need more stories like these.
is that the russian film ?
I thought the exact same thing
If you have a similar story in your life that you relate with this movie, it'll hit you hard.
Well done, my friend. Compelling, heartful, honest, true.
I was really excited when I first saw this trailer.
Even bought it.
Then some thing happened.
Something... similar.
I haven't been able to watch it fully, although I seemingly already knew what it was trying to say.
This video said a word that ive been feeling, and because of that, I think im ready to see it through.
Thank you.
Honestly, I've watched the film _Shortcomings_ and _Past Lives_ within 2 weeks of each other in the the cinema and I feel like both make a really good double feature. They both have Asian leads and they both deal with the changes people make. Shortcomings is more comedic while Past Lives is more contemplative. If you watched both, Shortcomings and then Past Lives, I feel like you'll get a whole that is more than the sum of it's parts.
@roxyortiz8819that doesn't answer the question tho, it just uses ad hominem to attack him personally. Pathetic. Try harder
Thank you for this video. My favorite movie of the year, and I loved reliving it through your analysis.
Loved your commentary, I've just watched it yesterday, but I wonder why you didn't talked about Nora's crying at the end? I found it the epitome expression of the middle between nihilism and realism, as you said...
What a cheeky and delightful ad tie-in at the end, brilliant work 🍎
Arthur was an absolute gem. Also loved the Adam and Eve tie in😂
Arthur: pure love
Hae Sung: cautious love
Nora: self serving love
I used to think souls, god and most of religious stuff was silly and through experience I have changed my opinion, I do think there are people we are meant to meet and have relationships with so that we can learn and teach each other, its like something that was meant to happen one way or another, I do believe life is very simple from a material view, but to those who search and want to know, answers do come, but you have to ask, answers come to those who want to know.
What a beautiful video. Very Nice work. Thank you 😊
The transition to the ad for Adam and Eve was effective and kinda funny
This was such a perfect analysis. Thank you so much for it. My heart is aching in the best way.
I really love her with her husband. I think he’s perfect for her. It’s the vibe and the feeling they share and the genuine love he has for her. I pray I can move on from my first love 😊❤ I’m ready now
Second time I cried while watching one your videos 😢
한국에 드디어 이 영화가 개봉을 했네요~. 한국에서는 한국말이 나올 때 자막이 없고 영어가 나올 때 자막이 나오는데, 영어권국가에서 이 영화를 볼 때는 한국어가 나올 때 자막이 나오는 묘미가 있겠네요^^. 그러고 보니 비영어권, 비한국어권 국가에서는 다 자막으로 볼 수도 있겠네요. 그렇더라도 모두에게 '인연'이 닿기를 기대합니다 :)
Just watched this last night! Beautiful film, wonderful human emotions
Arthur: pure love
Hae Sung: cautious love
Nora: self serving love
Excellent script brought to us by an excellent channel 👍
Thank you for the review/meditation, because this is one film I probably could never watch. Other people also made decisions that parted me from the love of my life. Yet others made decisions that delayed my return. A pandemic did not help. She married another man. Unlike the character in that film there is no way I would ever even think of coming between her and her husband, and I will never know the guy, it'd be too painful. AlI I can say is I guess she must have not thought of me as her true love. True love waits. But yet I still love her more than any other person in the world. It kills me a little every day. Films like this are kind of rough on my mental health! But I'd probably appreciate the cinema, so it was wonderful enjoying this little bit of film art in a manageable way!
For me, "Past Lives" is Makoto Shinkai's "50 Centimeters Per Second" but if they finally met in the end and realized they have turned out to be different people after all those years.
Well... Now I have to watch it.
Yes you do
The movie reminded me of the short story “Dead Stars.”
I love this Tom huhuhuhu 😢😢😭❤️❤️ My fave love story of the year
Beautiful and excellent analysis thank you for this
Somehow this video came in the right time for me. Thank you.
A little mean boy inside of me tells me that although I LOVED the movie, it is not written perfectly. But supremely directed!
8:51 That part is just wow!
This was a nice review and look at the story. I made it half way through and decided to stop. It was time for me to experience the film. Thank you!
Not one person is like the other. No one that has ever lived and will ever live is like you. There is a unique wonder that resides in ever single person. Sometimes we have the gift of really "seeing" a person. And even rarer are the times when we see them and fall in love. Arthur was just a writer who liked the same books as she did and they just so happened to be in that same place. Yes; but more so I believe they saw a part of a eachother noone else ever has. A wonder about them...and thats what bound them together.
You’ll be lucky if you can ever see yourself for who you really are. Most of us still haven’t fully become who we are. I’ve seen glimpses of my true self but very short lived. It’s a burst of excitement at the thought of being unlimited potential freedom, not hinged to the sum of your life’s decisions which created a self reputation.
I cannot imagine the pain. He came to New York from South korea and has to go back . That ll be the only thing running on his mind. During, after and maybe till he lets it go.
This film would've made more sense to me if they were 15/16 years old when they were separated to have the sense of romantic love lost. At twelve with only one date at a park with their mom's watching on the bench, is a stretch. As someone who's lived as an expat for years, Nora's tears reminded me how I felt when my daughter's friend came to visit from my home town and when she left to go back, I felt like my past life experience, my old house and neighbors etc was leaving with her. Nora being an expat in NYC, not having the chance to speak her language etc was heightened nostalgia more than romance in my opinion.
Great video about a brilliant movie
This was perfect and exactly what the movie was trying to portray