Past lives, the simplicity that reaches the Oscar

Past lives It’s like the other side of the Everything everywhere at the same time. They take place in the United States, but have Korean roots. And while the winner of 7 Oscars, including Best Picture, expands into the multiverse, Past lives Stay grounded. It’s simple, straightforward and also suitable for all audiences, a rarity in Oscar-nominated films, as is the case.

Many times we don’t know how relationships can end or evolve. Someone who, perhaps, we didn’t expect would play an important role in our lives, does.

Past liveswhich has won awards and is Oscar nominee for best film, deals with this a little bit. And more.

Nora and Hae Sung were childhood friends, but her family’s decision to emigrate from South Korea separates them. They drift apart due to circumstances and fate. And fate will bring them together again. The fact is that the film spans three time periods and two continents. Well, they get back together and end in a way we won’t spoil, because romantic fantasies aren’t meant to be spoken, but lived.

At first we don’t know who’s who, sitting in a bar in New York. Are Nora (Greta Lee), Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) and Arthur (John Magaro) friends? lovers? colleagues? This, let’s call it a brief introduction, allows us to speculate about what’s to come.

When Nora was little, she cried profusely. She was -is- very intelligent. Her best friend is Hae Sung, another lucid, polite boy like her, who adores her. So much so that Nora even tells her mother that she will marry him in the future. Plans to move to Canada in less than a year will make everything difficult and separate them for the first time.

Social networks

Past lives It could not exist without the Internet and social networks. It’s just that 12 years pass, she tries to prove herself as a playwright, and he, after leaving compulsory military service, studies engineering. The technological news is that she searches for Hae Sung on Google and finds out that he was looking for her on Facebook.

They resume contact, via text or Skype, but she warns that things may not prosper while she is focused on her career. What would a long distance relationship with Hae Sung be like?

And so we arrive, twelve years later, at the beginning, that is, not when they are children, but at the beginning of the film. Nora married Arthur, also a writer. They have a good, strong relationship and he’s even learning to speak Korean…

But Hue Sung appears. She will stay in New York for a few days. Can two people have minimal interaction and get along great because they were together in a past life? The script introduces the concept of “In-Yun”, the way the universe brings together souls who have shared a connection in previous lives.

Believe or burst.

Or not so much.

Song, born in South Korea, draws on his own history and culture to create this autobiographical yet universal debut feature. His next project also includes a triangle: Dakota JohnsonPedro Pascal and Chris Evans, and it will be a romantic comedy set in New York.

“Past Lives”

Romantic drama. United States, 2023. Original titlehe: “Living pastYES.” 106′, Atp. De: Celine song. With: Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, John Magaro. Rooms: Hoyts Abasto, Cinemark Puerto Madero, Cinépolis Recoleta and Pilar, Showcase Belgrano, Norcenter and Haedo.