Past Lives ticket giveaway

인연 • (inyeon)
the ties between two people over the course of their lives;
one’s connection with certain people or things.

Inyeon – a Korean term implying fate and destiny binding two people together – is at the heart and soul of Celine Song’s directorial debut, Past Lives. Na Young (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), are two pre-pubescent 12-year-olds with developing crushes on each other, when they are separated due to Na Young’s emigration from Seoul to Toronto. Life carries on, as it does, and they lose touch – until the 2000s come and the birth of social media suddenly makes it easier to connect and rekindle.

Past Lives glides through three time periods. Na Young and Hae Sung as children in South Korea; as 24-year-olds passionately reconnecting through Skype; and as 36-year-olds reuniting in New York, where Na Young, now going by her adopted Western name, Nora, lives with her Western husband and her well-established Western life. When Hae Sung makes contact to inform Nora of his upcoming vacation, her comfortable NYC bubble is shaken, and her relationship with her husband, her culture and her identity are quietly tested.

On the surface, Past Lives is an American-made romance drama; with A24 distributing the film; director Celine Song being a Korean-Canadian immigrant; and Greta Lee being a first generation Korean-American. However the film has the pulse and slow-burn of South Korean cinema, with much of what is communicated is through quiet moments, sometimes even silences, prolonged exchanges of eye contact, reserved body language and almost-touches. There are no secrets, no affairs, no screaming matches between Nora and Arthur (John Magaro), her jokingly self-proclaimed ‘evil white American husband standing in the way of destiny’. This is a film about connection, love, familiarity and missed opportunities. It is a film about life and its realities. It is a film about culture, displaced culture to be more accurate, and how while immigration can lead to a ‘better life’, with it still comes sacrifice. While the romance is at the forefront of the film, it’s the moulding of Nora into Western culture and the thinning rope that ties her to her Korean one, that really makes Past Lives shine. As a half Japanese, half Australian, blended between the East and the West myself, and feeling disconnected from both somedays, this element of the film had me in tears in the closing moments.

Greta Lee and Teo Yoo are phenomenal here, their chemistry warm, electric and never malicious. John Magaro is also fantastic as Arthur, a husband trying to navigate between understanding, trust and insecurities. However, the real star here is newcomer director Celine Song. It is remarkable to think that if Past Lives is her first film, what might we be treated with in the future. She is worth keeping track of, and Past Lives is easily one of the best films of the year and will leave you speechless.

Past Lives is in theatres from August 31st.

To celebrate the release of Past Lives, Milk Bar is giving away five free double passes. To enter, email ross@milkbarmag.com with the subject line ‘Past Lives ticket giveaway’ and include your name and postal address.