2023's Most Beautiful Movie About Love

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  • Опубликовано: 16 июн 2024
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    About this video essay:
    An analysis of Celine Song's Past Lives, and how it subverts the audience's expectations by turning the tropes of the romantic genre into a thoughtful rumination on the weight of time, the vague grief of lost potentiality, and the search for meaning.
    Content:
    00:00 Introduction
    01:07 A Brief Overview
    01:59 A Different Kind of Love Story
    04:36 The Vague Grief of Lost Potentiality
    06:13 Fixed in Time, Fluid in the Mind
    08:40 A Search for Meaning
    10:40 Peaceful Resignation
    12:54 An Adult Understanding
    14:10 The Real Love Story?
    Music:
    By the Coast - Part of Me
    Christopher Dennis Coleman - Vesper
    Shawn Williams - Illuminate
    I Live Here - September
    Take your films to the next level with music from Musicbed. Sign up for a free account to listen for yourself: fm.pxf.io/c/3532571/1347628/1...
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    Further Reading:
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Комментарии • 330

  • @LikeStoriesofOld
    @LikeStoriesofOld  8 месяцев назад +23

    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

    • @userJohnSmith
      @userJohnSmith 8 месяцев назад +3

      The Adam and Eve sponsorship had to be a weird email😅.

    • @sjc4
      @sjc4 8 месяцев назад

      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.

    • @marcst3199
      @marcst3199 7 месяцев назад

      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

    • @Face2East
      @Face2East 6 месяцев назад +2

      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.

    • @mso8059
      @mso8059 5 месяцев назад

      The movie "Once" captures a similar sense of the one who leaves and the one who stays.

  • @mangobadger
    @mangobadger 8 месяцев назад +990

    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
      @samreplete1842 7 месяцев назад +16

      Can you give an example of what do you mean by it? Thanks.

    • @pseudonymousbeing987
      @pseudonymousbeing987 7 месяцев назад

      @@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.

    • @KickAssAndChewBubblegum
      @KickAssAndChewBubblegum 7 месяцев назад +11

      wait until your 40s. Another huge shift.

    • @en2336
      @en2336 5 месяцев назад

      can you elaborate?@@KickAssAndChewBubblegum

    • @unknownunknown5244
      @unknownunknown5244 5 месяцев назад +9

      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.

  • @nolitimeremessorem
    @nolitimeremessorem 8 месяцев назад +718

    "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

    • @yeaonwah
      @yeaonwah 7 месяцев назад +3

      RiP

    • @pthanos
      @pthanos 7 месяцев назад +25

      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.

    • @ItsElle760
      @ItsElle760 5 месяцев назад

      love this...yes, existential crisis

  • @onewinter9411
    @onewinter9411 6 месяцев назад +508

    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
      @caiorezende5862 4 месяца назад +36

      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

    • @katwil89
      @katwil89 4 месяца назад +21

      @@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.

    • @phongthehun1721
      @phongthehun1721 3 месяца назад +2

      ​@@katwil89 Most women would not like Arthur cuz he a BETA 😂

    • @alejandramarquez6804
      @alejandramarquez6804 2 месяца назад +2

      I think he was so mature..that i realized i am so far from that. Amd she wwas so honest as well. Very mature.

    • @clonnlijinhlong2713
      @clonnlijinhlong2713 4 дня назад

      ​@@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.

  • @kevinjain
    @kevinjain 8 месяцев назад +172

    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.

  • @sinshenlong
    @sinshenlong 8 месяцев назад +634

    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.

    • @Valkyri3Z
      @Valkyri3Z 8 месяцев назад +42

      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.

    • @sinshenlong
      @sinshenlong 8 месяцев назад +2

      @@Valkyri3Z hmm i can see that too. Maybe he got disillusioned by her?

    • @Valkyri3Z
      @Valkyri3Z 8 месяцев назад +46

      @@sinshenlong not really. He accepted her nature. He realised she was someone who leaves.

    • @gracechan3039
      @gracechan3039 7 месяцев назад +76

      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.

    • @lufffytaha
      @lufffytaha 7 месяцев назад +1

      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.

  • @lynx655
    @lynx655 8 месяцев назад +116

    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.

    • @ItsElle760
      @ItsElle760 5 месяцев назад +4

      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.

    • @LungaMasilela
      @LungaMasilela Месяц назад

      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).

  • @default_channel_name
    @default_channel_name 8 месяцев назад +308

    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.

    • @deadjester
      @deadjester 8 месяцев назад +62

      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.

    • @michaelpowers6551
      @michaelpowers6551 8 месяцев назад +16

      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.

    • @SusannaSaunders
      @SusannaSaunders 8 месяцев назад +8

      @@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.

    • @justtalkingaboutnothing
      @justtalkingaboutnothing 8 месяцев назад +2

      that is so beautifully said@@deadjester

    • @arete7884
      @arete7884 8 месяцев назад +6

      Some evolve some reach their authentic selves, some stay in their shells the same , some get broken...

  • @BigMikeDaGr8
    @BigMikeDaGr8 8 месяцев назад +103

    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.

    • @ItsElle760
      @ItsElle760 5 месяцев назад +3

      YES! I have been going through this just over the last week, then I happened to watch the film (fate)

  • @annestjohn4017
    @annestjohn4017 7 месяцев назад +166

    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.

    • @meursault.1984
      @meursault.1984 7 месяцев назад +1

      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.

    • @toonnaobi-okoye2949
      @toonnaobi-okoye2949 7 месяцев назад +13

      @@meursault.1984 He's talking about his life outlook and love of cinema, you are talking about a meaningless comparison of A vs B.

    • @ItsElle760
      @ItsElle760 5 месяцев назад +1

      love it

    • @coleslow5519
      @coleslow5519 5 месяцев назад

      @@meursault.1984 Such a troll. I bet you leave this comment on every person who complements this film.

    • @meursault.1984
      @meursault.1984 5 месяцев назад

      @@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

  • @MrAlen6e
    @MrAlen6e 8 месяцев назад +93

    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

  • @sienna8686
    @sienna8686 7 месяцев назад +60

    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

  • @NoMoreCrumbs
    @NoMoreCrumbs 8 месяцев назад +173

    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

    • @SusannaSaunders
      @SusannaSaunders 8 месяцев назад

      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.

    • @jangdi.
      @jangdi. 8 месяцев назад +3

      I saw this exact comment elsewhere. This is a copy pasta.

  • @pdzombie1906
    @pdzombie1906 7 месяцев назад +42

    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!!!

    • @willherondale6367
      @willherondale6367 6 месяцев назад +8

      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.

  • @gabrielgolden4336
    @gabrielgolden4336 8 месяцев назад +260

    Tying Adam and Eve in with Past Lives made me laugh so hard I snot-rocketed on my laptop.

    • @mkznan5963
      @mkznan5963 8 месяцев назад +5

      I get the humour but it’s not that funny to me

    • @justtalkingaboutnothing
      @justtalkingaboutnothing 8 месяцев назад +10

      this was the comment I was looking for

    • @jobo12345689
      @jobo12345689 8 месяцев назад +18

      I actually thought it was done rather tastefully, but I also have a suspicion European audiences discuss intimacy differently than others

    • @Sandra-oz8iy
      @Sandra-oz8iy 3 месяца назад

      @@justtalkingaboutnothing Same

  • @fred3308
    @fred3308 6 месяцев назад +26

    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.

  • @dssdfdgfgfgf
    @dssdfdgfgfgf 8 месяцев назад +67

    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

  • @richardpage9502
    @richardpage9502 8 месяцев назад +22

    Love the idea that the film is about connecting with her past, reconciling with something she had forgotten

  • @happygucci5094
    @happygucci5094 2 месяца назад +6

    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.

  • @akirebara
    @akirebara 8 месяцев назад +66

    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.

  • @Tousicle
    @Tousicle 8 месяцев назад +174

    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...

    • @Vatt-Ghern
      @Vatt-Ghern 8 месяцев назад +21

      I understand you, in ways that I cannot communicate through text.

    • @johnlastname8752
      @johnlastname8752 8 месяцев назад +13

      That's rough buddy.

    • @jobo12345689
      @jobo12345689 8 месяцев назад +14

      That's though, man. But you put that into words beautifully

    • @pseudonymousbeing987
      @pseudonymousbeing987 7 месяцев назад +2

      Wowwwww…

    • @sublimeister9630
      @sublimeister9630 7 месяцев назад +5

      That’s almost prose poetry there… a little more dramatic effect. 👍

  • @corsica6995
    @corsica6995 7 месяцев назад +26

    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.”

  • @juletaurus
    @juletaurus 8 месяцев назад +31

    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.

  • @garrytalaroc
    @garrytalaroc 4 месяца назад +5

    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.

  • @timk6181
    @timk6181 5 месяцев назад +6

    I can't get over that this was a first feature, it's so emotionally articulate - masterfully so. What a talent Song is.

  • @zcoy4478
    @zcoy4478 8 месяцев назад +72

    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
      @LuisSierra42 8 месяцев назад +3

      It looks like Fate works in mysterious ways

    • @raskolnikov1242
      @raskolnikov1242 5 месяцев назад

      @@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...

  • @shivanshsinghchauhan8243
    @shivanshsinghchauhan8243 4 месяца назад +4

    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.

  • @edward8459
    @edward8459 4 месяца назад +8

    Arthur is so precious 😢

  • @zchesiq
    @zchesiq 6 месяцев назад +6

    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.

  • @Mozzaav
    @Mozzaav 8 месяцев назад +50

    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❤🇮🇳(& i miss her )

    • @iPyroNigma
      @iPyroNigma 8 месяцев назад +13

      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.

    • @michaelpowers6551
      @michaelpowers6551 8 месяцев назад +3

      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!

    • @Mozzaav
      @Mozzaav 8 месяцев назад +2

      @@michaelpowers6551 absolutely she realised in the last that he was the one she could have given a try hence she cried at the end..

  • @carrieq7409
    @carrieq7409 8 месяцев назад +9

    What a great transition to your sponsor. I've never gone from teary eyed to laughing so quickly

  • @Tofushoots
    @Tofushoots 8 месяцев назад +10

    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.

  • @genesis1720ify
    @genesis1720ify 8 месяцев назад +9

    Was not ready for that ad sponsor transition 😂😂

  • @lassal2409
    @lassal2409 8 месяцев назад +5

    8:07 I'm floored by your articulateness. All these things I'm constantly thinking about yet can never put into words. Thank you.

  • @DocVancouver
    @DocVancouver 4 месяца назад +3

    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 ❤

  • @janetchee
    @janetchee 6 месяцев назад +3

    “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.”

  • @CedarPass
    @CedarPass 8 месяцев назад +1

    Well done, my friend. Compelling, heartful, honest, true.

  • @aysargha
    @aysargha 8 месяцев назад +1

    Thank you for this video. My favorite movie of the year, and I loved reliving it through your analysis.

  • @marinacivera8099
    @marinacivera8099 6 месяцев назад

    What an amazing analysis. Made me cry all over again with you view. Thank you so much for doing it.

  • @danleyendecker9578
    @danleyendecker9578 8 месяцев назад +1

    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.

  • @johnnzboy
    @johnnzboy 8 месяцев назад +6

    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 :)))

  • @yossarianyossarian3957
    @yossarianyossarian3957 8 месяцев назад +2

    you rock. thank you for all your wonderful videos. please keep up the great work.

  • @wendysalter
    @wendysalter 8 месяцев назад +10

    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.

  • @fehzorz
    @fehzorz 5 месяцев назад +13

    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.

    • @jyc313
      @jyc313 5 месяцев назад +2

      I was attending a panel with the director, and she said this exact same thing about the end scene. You are astute my friend.

    • @hindharb8748
      @hindharb8748 4 месяца назад +2

      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.

  • @JLCRH
    @JLCRH 5 месяцев назад +1

    This is a thoughtful critique and I found it interesting and valuable. Thank you.

  • @trackmaster232
    @trackmaster232 6 месяцев назад

    This was such a perfect analysis. Thank you so much for it. My heart is aching in the best way.

  • @VanBliXty
    @VanBliXty 8 месяцев назад

    Beautifully put ❤

  • @riordanberry3908
    @riordanberry3908 8 месяцев назад

    Just watched this last night! Beautiful film, wonderful human emotions

  • @lokchucklindryfry94
    @lokchucklindryfry94 8 месяцев назад +7

    this movie is so brilliant, i've felt invested in every second of this movie. its that special. a very well made movie.

  • @peter8872
    @peter8872 7 месяцев назад

    Beautiful and excellent analysis thank you for this

  • @savionogueira902
    @savionogueira902 4 месяца назад

    What a beautiful video. Very Nice work. Thank you 😊

  • @LEOmade
    @LEOmade 5 месяцев назад

    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

  • @rosestoeses
    @rosestoeses 7 месяцев назад

    What a cheeky and delightful ad tie-in at the end, brilliant work 🍎

  • @zZech111
    @zZech111 4 месяца назад +1

    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🥺😭🙌

  • @juanpabloc.4002
    @juanpabloc.4002 8 месяцев назад

    Somehow this video came in the right time for me. Thank you.

  • @sixiongcai5524
    @sixiongcai5524 4 месяца назад +1

    Your interpretation transcended this movie to a new level of excellence

  • @d.sfilms7677
    @d.sfilms7677 8 месяцев назад

    All your videos are so beautiful

  • @DavidMendoza-pi3wz
    @DavidMendoza-pi3wz 8 месяцев назад

    I love this Tom huhuhuhu 😢😢😭❤️❤️ My fave love story of the year

  • @waedjradi
    @waedjradi 5 месяцев назад

    Excellent script brought to us by an excellent channel 👍

  • @mamalovesthebeach437
    @mamalovesthebeach437 5 месяцев назад +2

    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. ❤

  • @jeremyvanb821
    @jeremyvanb821 8 дней назад

    Arthur was an absolute gem. Also loved the Adam and Eve tie in😂

  • @laStar972chuck
    @laStar972chuck 7 месяцев назад +3

    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

  • @user-kd4cj3ol9o
    @user-kd4cj3ol9o 7 месяцев назад +5

    누구나 한번쯤은 첫사랑이있을것같아요!
    가슴 설레이는 첫사랑...
    잔잔한 시냇물 처럼 흐르는 이 영화는 다른 로멘스영화 처럼 자극적이지않지만 .
    흐르는 시냇물처럼 바닥이 보일듯말듯 보일듯하면서 여운을 남기네요.
    ❤❤❤

  • @souradeepsengupta95
    @souradeepsengupta95 7 месяцев назад +12

    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.

  • @judemorales4U
    @judemorales4U 7 месяцев назад

    Great review. ❤

  • @johnnybbadd7388
    @johnnybbadd7388 5 месяцев назад

    Great review

  • @carolinemasson7172
    @carolinemasson7172 4 месяца назад

    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

  • @tavenstrickert9658
    @tavenstrickert9658 2 месяца назад +1

    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.

    • @happygucci5094
      @happygucci5094 2 месяца назад +1

      This was so beautiful and I am so so happy that you have all that Love in your life 🥹💗

  • @alexcoyg3281
    @alexcoyg3281 8 месяцев назад +2

    Love the Sunset, Sunrise trillogy, my favorite romantic movies

  • @HellVedaKa
    @HellVedaKa 6 месяцев назад +1

    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.

  • @TheModernMuses
    @TheModernMuses 8 месяцев назад

    Your videos are a treasure

  • @ezra6094
    @ezra6094 8 месяцев назад +1

    Great video about a brilliant movie

  • @Runeforged
    @Runeforged 7 месяцев назад +1

    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.

  • @arete7884
    @arete7884 8 месяцев назад +5

    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.

  • @Oz07
    @Oz07 5 месяцев назад +1

    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

  • @mollyzhou2803
    @mollyzhou2803 6 месяцев назад +4

    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

  • @CallumBruceBell
    @CallumBruceBell 8 месяцев назад

    right in the feels

  • @amentet
    @amentet Месяц назад

    Second time I cried while watching one your videos 😢

  • @dgillphotos
    @dgillphotos 5 месяцев назад

    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!

  • @verycoldhardybles790
    @verycoldhardybles790 6 месяцев назад +1

    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.

  • @Bb2b75
    @Bb2b75 8 месяцев назад

    Thank you

  • @mackielunkey2205
    @mackielunkey2205 7 месяцев назад

    I made an internal cheer when I saw the thumbnail. Best movie of 2023 currently for me.

  • @gregcharles92
    @gregcharles92 7 месяцев назад

    This is beautiful

  • @Dodonator8
    @Dodonator8 7 месяцев назад +6

    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 ❤

    • @Dodonator8
      @Dodonator8 7 месяцев назад

      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

  • @user-yk9sk7pg6v
    @user-yk9sk7pg6v 7 месяцев назад

    thank you

  • @giancork1656
    @giancork1656 8 месяцев назад +2

    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.

  • @steve_santiago
    @steve_santiago 5 месяцев назад

    The transition to the ad for Adam and Eve was effective and kinda funny

  • @Jopeth23
    @Jopeth23 4 месяца назад +1

    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.

  • @anthragestormrider2493
    @anthragestormrider2493 7 месяцев назад

    Well done.

  • @matesykim
    @matesykim 3 месяца назад +1

    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 :)

  • @daneshed2105
    @daneshed2105 7 месяцев назад +6

    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...

  • @OnlyCitrus
    @OnlyCitrus 8 месяцев назад +2

    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.

    • @ilydevonte4764
      @ilydevonte4764 8 месяцев назад

      is that the russian film ?

    • @confused_lefty
      @confused_lefty 8 месяцев назад

      @@ilydevonte4764 Nope, it's Indian; specifically Tamil

    • @shamx27
      @shamx27 5 месяцев назад

      I thought the exact same thing

  • @user-nu9kz8xh3b
    @user-nu9kz8xh3b Месяц назад

    すでに二回見た。本当に美しい映画。

  • @kyletucker6508
    @kyletucker6508 8 месяцев назад +2

    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.

  • @LostInRegina
    @LostInRegina 8 месяцев назад +1

    The movie reminded me of the short story “Dead Stars.”

  • @somxone01
    @somxone01 6 месяцев назад

    brilliant.

  • @OlgaRykov
    @OlgaRykov 7 месяцев назад +3

    Well... Now I have to watch it.

  • @michaelpowers6551
    @michaelpowers6551 8 месяцев назад

    I just watched this a few weeks ago and liked it. I’m still unsure where I sit with and want to watch it one more time but honestly I definitely wouldn’t say it’s perfect there were a few things that didn’t click for me… but it was a ride! Slow but solid…

    • @ajiththomas2465
      @ajiththomas2465 8 месяцев назад

      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.

  • @zuhaibamir9482
    @zuhaibamir9482 8 месяцев назад +4

    I love you mate.

  • @justshoby3374
    @justshoby3374 5 месяцев назад

    Thanks.