Oscar-nominated 'Past Lives' captures universally human experiences

Celine Song's semi-autobiographical film "Past Lives" explores fate and relationships in a New York-Korea setting, resonating with audiences universally. Nominated for multiple awards, it invites viewers to interpret its message in their own way.

Actor Teo Yoo, left, and director Celine Song of film “Past Lives” pose for a photo at a press conference held in Yongsan, central Seoul, on Wednesday ahead of its domestic release on March 6. [CJ ENM]

“What is most personal is most universal” — and Celine Song’s starkly honest “Past Lives” delves deep, putting a powerful twist on the well-worn topic of fate, in a New York-Seoul cross-country setting.

The film, Song's directorial debut, is a semi-autobiographical work for the Korean Canadian auteur who was born in Korea and migrated to Canada at the age of 12. It premiered during the Sundance Film Festival in January last year and is set for domestic release on March 6.

“People ask me why my debut film is autobiographical, but I think every production contains something personal,” Song said at a press conference and screening event held Wednesday at the CGV Yongsan I'Park Mall in central Seoul. Song was joined by actor Teo Yoo, who plays the supporting lead Hae-sung, and CJ ENM movie division head Ko Kyung-bum.

“I think the hardest part was not overdoing the emotions but also not showing too much restraint,” she said.

Official Korean poster for ″Past Lives″ [CJ ENM]

“Past Lives” tells the story of two childhood friends, Nora and Hae-sung, played by American actor Greta Lee and Korean actor Yoo. Nora and Hae-sung grew up together in Korea as childhood sweethearts but are separated when Nora immigrates with her family to Canada. They reconnect 12 years later through Facebook, but move on with their own lives. Another 12 years later, they meet when Hae-sung goes to meet Nora in New York, where she works as a playwright and lives with her American husband Arthur.

Perhaps this is why Song took so much care in making the settings and characters relatable and real, miles away from making a caricature or an impressionist expression out of them.

“When choosing the locations to shoot at, I asked the location director for Korea: What is your Paris?” Song said.

“If you ask a Parisian that question, no one says the Eiffel Tower. They say it’s their neighborhood coffee shop. [I wanted to portray accurately in the film] not just New York, but Seoul as well. I wanted to show a real New Yorker and a real Seoulite,” Song said.

“We were filming in Korea but the location didn’t seem to fit. So I asked the location manager, if you could go to any place with good food after filming wraps up, where would it be? And he gave me a place, which is the restaurant shown in the movie with the soju.”

And it’s not just the scenery. In two scenes, Hae-sung asks Nora “Have you eaten?” — the love language of Koreans. The way in which he drinks soju with his friends at a restaurant views like a documentary; the way he styles himself, talks and thinks bleeds Korean-born-and-raised, or, as Nora says, “He’s so Korean!”

Still shot from ″Past Lives″ [CJ ENM]

But even with the distinctively Korean setting, it is the universally human experience of defining and bridging relationships that resonates with all audiences.

The film specifically touches on the idea of inyeon, a Korean term for a karmic fate that draws its roots from the Buddhist concept of human relationships shaped by the endless loop of reincarnation.

One of the very last scenes in the movie shows Nora and Hae-sung, along with Arthur, going out for dinner. They end up in a bar, where the three engage in conversation over drinks; while Nora and Hae-sung at first translate what they are saying to Arthur, they eventually speak only in Korean.

So many people have been in that situation, translation needed or not — whether it be seeing someone’s hometown childhood friend, meeting a partner’s ex or introducing your partner to your parents for the first time.

And the two’s reconnection decades after being separated is, at its core, also a moment many people could relate to — the surrealistic, existential, frozen-in-time moment where the events that have lead up to it make the situation feel like destiny.

“Past Lives” was nominated for two Oscars at this year’s Academy Awards: Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. It was nominated in five categories at this year’s Golden Globe Awards in January.

Director Celine Song, second from left, poses with the cast of ″Past Lives″ at the Berlin International Fil Festival on Feb. 19, 2024.[AFP/YONHAP]

The Oscar nomination marks the third time that a Korean director or a director of Korean descent has been nominated for Best Picture at the prestigious event, following in the footsteps of Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite” (2019), which went on to win, and Lee Isaac Chung’s “Minari” (2020), which didn’t win Best Picture but did turn into a Best Supporting Actress award for Youn Yuh-jung.

“Being nominated by the Academy was incredibly honoring. I am so honored and amazed that my debut film was nominated,” Song said.

“It’s a film that changed my life.” Lee said, who was nominated for best actor in a leading role by the British Academy Film Awards and received nods from the Chicago Film Critics Association Awards and the Independent Spirit Awards.

“Whereas I took a technical approach to my previous roles, I had to change my thoughts on life and philosophy to become this character. It was a production that was very influential to me.”

When asked what she wished the audience would take away after seeing the film, the director emphasized its ubiquity in which viewers can interpret its message on inyeon.

“The movie can be thought of and seen differently depending on who watches it, and at what point in life they are watching it. Everyone will have a different perspective,” Song said. “Please watch the film with an open mind.”

BY KIM JU-YEON [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]