Past Lives

A masterclass in storytelling.

The treatment of time, which is stretched and pulled, crumpled, torn and put back together, makes “Past Lives” a deeply meditative and existentially curious piece.

A great movie, period.

If Celine Song’s Past Lives allows men and women to break out of gender expectations, John Trengrove’s Manodrome holds out an olive branch to the kind of alpha men who use the gym as a place of validation.

Past Lives unravels as a marvel, cemented in a rare balance of wit and grief beautifully embodied by Magaro and Lee.

Making an utterly assured feature debut, writer-director Celine Song modulates the delicate tonal balance of this wise, wistful film perfectly.

Technology functions almost like a translator, allowing Nora and Hae Sung digital windows into their past selves that aren’t as static as simply flipping through old photos. Yet there are only so many miracles technology can perform.

Celine Song's directional debut is like an emotional boomerang centered within young love and pining for the one person you feel destined to for eternity. Greta Lee and Teo Yoo have a chemistry that permeates even without dialogue

The emotions are likely to wash over you without you even realizing how much the story is affecting you.

The film affords viewers who’ve ever spent years chasing dreams the chance to pause and ponder – perhaps in the absence of a visitor from the past – whether we’ve meaningfully changed who we are or we’ve only successfully crafted façades.