I still haven’t seen Celine Song’s “Past Lives,” being distributed via A24 this Friday.
I missed it at Sundance and was at Cannes when, supposedly, press screenings were occurring. I’ll probably have to buy a ticket for this one.
There is a trailer for the film which was greeted with raves at Sundance in January, ditto at the Berlin Film Festival the following month.
Back in January, there were unanimously positive reviews from Vanity Fair, IndieWire, Variety, Deadline, Screen and The Guardian, among others. It was by far the most critically-acclaimed movie of Sundance 2023. Its cumulative 95 Metacritic score is quite impressive.
As it stands, “Past Lives” is the best reviewed film of the year. This is a multi-decade romance in Korean language. It is an A24 production, so that will only accentuate buzz for this film.
A friend who saw it in advance last summer at a test-screening was bugging me for weeks about how great the film was and I kinda brushed his reaction off. I shouldn’t have.
Official “Past Lives” Synopsis:
“Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora's family emigrates from South Korea. Twenty years later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront notions of love and destiny.”
As it stands, “Past Lives” and “Air” are the only films released this year that might gain awards traction in the fall.