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In the week of Valentine’s Day, a romantic film arrives in theaters that we won’t easily forget: “Past Lives”, Celine Song’s debut, which comes out in Italian theaters after a long festival journey, which began with Sundance at the beginning of 2023 and continued with last year’s Berlinale.
At the center is the story of Nora and Hae Sung, two childhood friends, very close to each other, who are separated when Nora’s family decides to emigrate from South Korea to Canada and end up losing touch. Growing up in America, Nora manages to fulfill her dream of writing for a living and moves to New York. In the meantime, Hae Sung is doing his compulsory military service in Korea. Thanks to social networks, the two will return to feeling like twelve years after separating, but another twelve will pass before they manage to meet again.
“Past Lives” and the other films of the week
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It opens with a very remarkable subjective “Past Lives”, a shot that puts us in the position of any customer in a club who is observing three people talking and wonders what the relationship between them will be. From this opening, it develops a film with an extremely refined staging, always capable of playing with the viewer’s gaze, our expectations and our hopes. One of the great peculiarities of this feature film is the splendid characterization of the protagonist’s American husband: it is an impediment, perhaps, to their reunion, but he is actually a figure as human as he is layered and it is quite rare to find such depth for a character of this type in a screenplay.
A touching autobiographical film
The debut behind the camera of the Korean playwright and screenwriter (naturally Canadian) certainly has strong autobiographical references: like Nora, the protagonist of her film, the director also had to leave Korea with her family at the age of twelve years.A narrative inspiration that makes a film even more personal and touching which, incredibly, manages to have a universal reach and create empathy with numerous types of spectators.
Passionate and full of nostalgia for something that perhaps not even the characters have actually experienced, it is a film that makes us think about the circumstances of life, about destiny and how every single coincidence can change entire existences. After being a great protagonist of the awards season, it should be remembered that “Past Lives” will also participate in the Oscars with two very important nominations: the nomination for best film and best original screenplay.