Past Lives is writer-director Celine Song’s feature debut, one of those remarkable times when your first movie is exceptional.

This is a small, A24 film with two Korean leads with both Korean and English language being used throughout. It was one that I found a lot to relate with and one where my feelings went back and forth between what I wanted to happen.

According to IMDB, “Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrested 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.”

I bought into the relationship between Nora (at first named Na) and Hae Sung immediately. They were shown as 12-year olds on a cute date, set up by Na’s mother because she wanted to give her good memories of Korea before they immigrated away. Then, years later, Hae tried to find Na (now called Nora) using social media and she saw him. They spent time communicating on the computer, Nora living in New York and Hae Sung still in Korea.

Nora decided they needed to stop talking because she could not focus on her writing career. It was at this point when she met Arthur (John Magaro), and ended up marrying him.

I loved John Magaro in this movie and his character made me reevaluate my opinions on what was going on. With Arthur, along with Nora and Hae Sung, you had three, extremely developed, brilliantly written characters that felt so real that they were so relatable.

The cinematography of this movie was sensational, especially when Hae Sung and Nora are walking around New York. There were so many excellent shots, it was beautiful to see.

This is a slow burn film with some amazing characters and a story that gives us wonderful dialogue and character moments. Past Lives is a really great film that I liked more than I thought I might.

4.3 stars