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Trouble with a capitial 'T'
We're on a roll! That's four reviews already in for this weeks movie, Past Lives (2023). So far it sounds like everyone has liked it. I wonder if anyone has had anything similar happen to them like happens in the movie? I can't say that I have.



We're on a roll! That's four reviews already in for this weeks movie, Past Lives (2023). So far it sounds like everyone has liked it. I wonder if anyone has had anything similar happen to them like happens in the movie? I can't say that I have.
We already talked about this.



Trouble with a capitial 'T'
We already talked about this.
I know but that was just me and you in messages. I bet a bunch of people have had some similar experiences...I wish I had a story to tell but I don't.



I know but that was just me and you in messages. I bet a bunch of people have had some similar experiences...I wish I had a story to tell but I don't.
I share with good friends who I trust.



I forgot the opening line.


Past Lives - 2023

Directed by Celine Song

Written by Celine Song

Starring Greta Lee, Teo Yoo & John Magaro

Get some tissues handy for this deceptively simple, heart-rendingly earnest film which features a couple of magical performances from it's two leads and some cross-culturally sensitive daydreaming. Nora Moon (Seung Ah Moon as a child, and Greta Lee as an adult) and Hae Sung (Seung Min Yim as a child, and Teo Yoo as an adult) are two childhood best friends living a normal life in Seoul, South Korea as they cross over into becoming childhood sweethearts. It doesn't last long, as Nora's family leave Korea for a new life in Toronto, and as such the two lose touch. Fast forward 12 years, and both Nora and Hae Sung are both looking for each other when they reconnect online - something which develops into a long distance relationship which stirs strong feelings. This is problematic for the ambitious Nora, who can't afford to either wait a year and a half for Hae Sung to fly over to New York (where Nora has since moved to) or zip over to Seoul herself. They live their seperate lives, until one day Nora finds herself face to face with her long lost love. The only problem is, she's now happily married to Arthur (John Magaro) and as such can only contemplate what might have been, and if there's any truth to the old belief that these two people who would otherwise have travelled a different path once knew each other in past lives.

This is one movie where I can pretty much lay a story out and not feel like I'm stepping on the toes of those worried about spoilers - but if I'm wrong, then sorry about the wall-to-wall spoilers there. This isn't so much a "what happens next" narrative, but instead a long contemplation on fate, love, the sacrifices we make to forge our own path and the pain of looking back at what might have been. It's amazing how when I watch this movie I find myself looking at the situation from the viewpoint of all three major characters instead of picking a side. How great is that? Celine Song's film is so well balanced that every character feels fleshed out, so that I really feel Hae Sung's loneliness, Nora's assured dependability offset a little by the magnetic attraction she feels for Hae Sung, and Arthur's trust which still betrays a pang of jealousy and hurt. Teo Yoo managed to nab himself a BAFTA nomination for his part in the film, but this really is a nifty little 3-person ensemble effort where each part is integral to the whole. The awkward conversations Nora and Hae Sung have with each other every time they are apart for a dozen years feel really genuine (and were sometimes prompted by Celine Song having kept the actors apart, or else having had delays fed into the scenes where they talk to each other online.)

Visually, this is a wonderland of architecture, iron and stone - and many such features kind of dictate the flow of the cinematography (by Shabier Kirchner, whose career is still young.) I loved the stone sculpture scene near the beginning, and the use of the golden merry-go-round/carousel (Jane's Carousel in Brooklyn Bridge Park) in the background of one late scene is famous. It harkens back to Nora and Hae Sung's childhood past, but provides a brilliant visual contrast which wows the senses while the scene is playing out. In New York's ultra-urban world a trip on the subway can look magical if captured just right, and bookending the movie (to some degree) is the amber-hued bar scene, which is where we start the story completely estranged from our three future characters - a couple of strangers trying to guess what their story is. This is where the idea for the film initially came from, with director Celine Song meeting her childhood sweetheart with her husband, translating for them, and considering what kind of story this might make for a feature film. The film takes place mostly in the spaces where many people flow through, and rarely in a home - the fates always moving our characters on from where they are. They never get the chance to hang on to each other.

Christopher Bear and Daniel Rossen's score is certainly not melodramatic - and almost could be interpreted as light and easy, but there's a heaviness to the freaky tones and synthesised sound. Or am I just giving the music my own heavy interpretation because of how sad the underlying story Past Lives tells is? It's so unusual, but sounds as if it totally belongs in this movie. If used for anything else, all I could really imagine is a documentary about life in the ocean - it's the kind of music that would rarely fit any film other than Nora and Hae Sung's story, with a faint trace of the Korean, plonks on xylophones and a deep, idiosyncratic way about it. I could easily come to the conclusion that this is the music of Nora's life, and plays as her theme throughout the film. As unusual and determined as she is, and as powerful as an imagination she has, she's the brightly coloured fish the camera is tracking in this Jacques Cousteau panorama of Nora's environment. It makes this less a love story than a trip through the mind's eye concerning the very nature of time, conscious connections and modern life. I thought this score was very innovative and interesting - a definite plus to the movie.

In summing up, Past Lives made such a splash that it earned Celine Song an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay, and the film itself Best Picture - deservedly, since Past Lives was probably one of the best films released in 2023. I certainly deemed as much as the year came to it's end, having gone to see it during it's theatrical run and being especially pleased by it. I'll tell you one thing though. Whenever we look back at "what might have been", it's always something wonderful and everlastingly amazing. We rarely look back at the road not taken and consider that it may very well have been a disaster, despite how promising it looked. The road we take always looks promising. Briefly, Nora and Hae Sung do consider that maybe they might have fought all the time, and have divorced. Perhaps Nora might have felt unfulfilled, and wondered at where her ambitions might have taken her - another "what might have been" consideration. In the moment, Hae Sung looks devilishly handsome, and she knew the two really combined well - but Nora's heart took her somewhere that was more important than getting the handsome hunk and marrying the guy she was most magnetically drawn to. Instead, she lives the life she really wanted - and she knew from the outset the sacrifice needed. The price will occasionally see her dream, but as we see in the film, Arthur was plenty enough.

Just remember in Celine Song's world time travels from left to right (as I think most carousels turn), and that sometimes characters slip back into the past, and some walk on into the future. Me, I'm constantly looking towards the past. Sometimes thinking about what might have been. Sometimes just enjoying all of the happy memories I have made. At a certain stage of your life, the past looks more inviting than the future - but for now at least, the present holds. I think that's true for Nora, who expands the whole concept into a dream about past lives, and the number of times two people have crossed paths until they become lifelong partners and soulmates. Celine Song's movie, with it's central sorrowful (and quite brilliant) theme, it's visual flow through the busy places so many pass by, is one that will tug on your heartstrings regardless - because although sweet, it's still sad to see two people absolutely made for each other not quite make it and who instead must be content to dream. We round out the film with the song "Quiet Eyes" by Sharon Van Etten, which will only crumple those susceptible to the mood that has been created by this very excellent film - a love story with the saddest embrace I've seen for years.

__________________
Remember - everything has an ending except hope, and sausages - they have two.

Latest Review : Inside Moves (1980)



I felt a lot more while watching Past Lives than I expected. This movie works so wonderfully because it not only takes its time with the characters, but also never takes an easy way out. No one is a bad person here. No one is 'in the way', or acting unreasonably.
WARNING: spoilers below
No unexpected kisses or thrown punches.



It's not a movie about actions, but feelings. And we have to sit with these uncomfortable emotions, right along with the characters.


And in the end,
WARNING: spoilers below
the only catharsis is from letting these unspoken feelings known. Everyone acknowledges that the feelings are real. But ultimately they all reach the same conclusion, that the two don't need each other anymore, and there's no place in their lives for each other. Perhaps in the next life.



"A"



Past Lives -


Is there a more difficult question or one more likely to make you stop in your tracks than "what if?" Whether there is or not, Celine Song's beautiful, sad and refreshingly real debut demonstrates why it's up there. Having lived my whole life in the same country and most of it in the same state, this movie is invaluable to me when it comes to the immigration experience. I appreciate its firsthand account of the process as well as how it makes me understand how everything that happens before can seem like another life. It helps that Greta Lee is so unaffected and natural as the adult Nora (the same goes for Moon Seung-ah, who plays her young version), which are qualities that also describe her moments with Jung. Teo Yoo is just as praiseworthy for how he makes Joon seem like he might spend the rest of his new life longing for his past one. Nora's conversations with him and husband Arthur (Magaro) are like poetry, but what I'll recall most from this movie are the times when nothing is said. From a beautiful long take of Nora and Jung walking through Brooklyn Bridge Park to another where we simply see them looking at each other for a long time, Song demonstrates that looks and gestures can say just as much as dialogue. As for Magaro, I like how he expresses Arthur's insecurities about feeling like he's in the way, which the movie thankfully resolves in an adult way and that is free of cheap melodrama. It results in a very assured directorial debut that is bound to make you think about all your experiences that made you ask "what if" afterwards. While they're never easy, as Nora's mom puts it before their big move, "if you leave you lose things, but you also gain things, too."



I finished the first movie before the reveal of the next one and had 2+ hours to spare this weekend to watch another one, so...






Trouble with a capitial 'T'
The winner of the 34th HoF is Past Lives! Well, that might just happen, so far 6 out of 7 reviews seemed to love Past Lives. 7 more reviews to go, I wonder if everyone will be on the same page??? Stay tuned!



Past Lives



It must've been Korean night at my place because my wife and I watched this between episodes of Squid Game. Before I forget, I asked my wife what she'd rate this from 1 to 10 and she said between an 8 and 9. That's really high considering it's not something she'd ever watch on her own. It's not a film I'd watch on my own either, but I say that knowing full well that I have better luck watching other people's recommendations over my own choices, which are based not on quality but on personal taste.

This film reminded me of one of my personal favorites, The Secret in Their Eyes (2009) as well as the Before Sunrise series, which I very much dislike.

This is not a film I was familiar with at all when it was nominated. I ended up reading the very short synopsis, (telling it to my wife is the only way to convince her to watch something). With my experience watching different types of films, that short synopsis was more than enough to tell me what I was in for.

It seems as though these movies can come at you in one of two ways, with subtly, which this one does, or in a more melodramatic or manipulative way, which I happen to prefer. For whatever reason it seems that most here prefer the first option, which is cool, but love breeds passion which can bring intense unpredictability.

Looking to find a parallel in my own life to this film, I have basically relocated twice. The first when I was 14 from Chicago to Boston with my parents back in 1985 (before cell phones). The 2nd was in 2006 when my wife and I moved from 10 minutes north of Boston to about 35 minutes south of Boston. That's a minimal relocation as measured by distance, but it was a part of a gradual relocation of my priorities and soul that began in 1996 when I met my future wife. I finally joined Facebook about 3 years ago because of the community I now live in. I have looked up old friends and girlfriends, of which there are many, mostly for reasons of curiosity, and it's been nice to touch base. I have had no thoughts of "what if", I believe because I am happy and fulfilled. But what if I wasn't?

I was surprised at the beginning of this film by how quickly into the runtime the relocation took place. I just thought they took minimal time trying to build the relationship up into something that really felt special and lasting. And they were just kids. I thought that this would be a hindrance to the film's effectiveness later. Thankfully it wasn't.

The story of this film made me hope for emotional devastation and I didn't get that. I feel that their love for one another, and therefore their missed opportunity, was uncertain. The characters smartly talk about this, but I think it may go further than that. At the time of relocation, the boy is upset, but the girl seemed completely fine about it to me. One of the reviews here mention that after 12 years they were looking for each other, but I thought she just noticed that he had been looking for her. I'm sure he was missing her, but part of that is simply because no other girl had filled that void in his life. She seemed so driven that she hadn't had time for a relationship, but clearly she was delighted to find him again. That may have been the first time she felt that kind of spark in her adult life. People in general desperately need a human connection and have a desire to fit in. They will use the most frivolous of reasons to get that, whether that's being a fan of the same sports team, their race, or what kind of music they like. Having had a prior connection is one of the best reasons. After meeting her husband a few years later, it seemed to me that she could have lived the rest of her life without hearing from her childhood sweetheart, and it would have been just as well. He moved on and had a relationship, and it was when that fell apart that he began to have a yearning for her again. I'm sorry, but I don't believe that true love is halted by another person. After the first 12 years, I would have been on the first plane to New York if that is how I felt. The dude was lonely and unfulfilled. She is clearly smitten with him when they meet at the age of 36, but I wonder if part of that is nostalgia for her childhood or missing her homeland. It could have been a real love since they were children, I'm just not convinced of it, and that's OK. I think that's part of what makes the film so good.

So no, it did not knock my socks off, but this is an expertly crafted film with great performances. I loved the score and the photography, and some of the dialogue really hit the mark. The line that Torgo mentioned is fantastic. I was completely immersed. Great nomination.

-



Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain
Past Lives (2023)
Director/Writer: Celine Song
Cast: Greta Lee, Yoo Tae-oh, John Magaro






A perfect beginning. Three people in a darkened bar, fixed in a halo of light. Asian man and Asian woman facing each other, talking. Caucasian man following along. Unseen onlookers are playing that game: guess what those three strangers are to each other. They think the Asians are brother and sister. No, maybe a couple. Actually, they can’t figure it out.

Flash back 24 years. Twelve-year-old Na-young and Hae-sung are best friends in elementary school in South Korea. They sit together, walk home together, compete for grades. Na-young’s mother, appreciating their special bond, organizes a play date for the two. Why? So they can make some nice memories before the family immigrates to Canada.

Flash forward 12 years. As students, they reconnect over a video call. Na-young is now Nora (Greta Lee), studying writing in New York City. Hae-sung (Yoo Tae-oh) has finished his compulsory military service and is studying engineering. They have long, reminiscing talks. But Nora fears she’s being distracted from her studies and her career. She proposes they take a break.

Life continues to steer them in different directions. Hae-sung heads for China, where he’s involved with a Chinese girlfriend. Nora meets and marries Arthur (John Magaro) during a writer’s retreat.

But finally … Nora and Hae-sung meet again as adults in a darkened, chilly New York cityscape.

None of this is spoiler territory. Because now the real story begins, to answer that question: What are these people to each other?

This is not your type of movie if you’re expecting dramatic confrontations or cutesy romantic comedy. It’s just an extraordinarily well written, well directed, and well acted rumination on “what might have been” versus “what is” versus “what will be.”

Besides Oscar nominations for both screenplay and best picture for first-time director Celine Song, Past Lives also earned Song and lead actress Greta Lee dozens of wins and nominations from professional societies and film festivals. Lee and costars Yoo and Magaro turn in finely nuanced and restrained performances that are perfectly calibrated to the intelligent script. Song does a masterly job, commanding your attention scene by scene so that you overlook how dialog-driven it is.

Through intimate and authentically candid conversations between Nora and Arthur, and then Nora and Hae-sung, we learn more about their relationships. What’s refreshing? The situation tempts us, like those anonymous onlookers, to peg them into neat Hollywood stereotypes. But writer/director Song subverts any expectations, giving us rounded and complex characters who are willing to admit their insecurities and fears – and to grapple with them openly.

It's a mistake to try to view Past Lives through a completely Western, Hollywood-centric lens. Though the themes have some universal appeal, the central relationship between Nora and Hae-sung rests on social concepts that are uniquely Eastern. Nora explains it to Arthur eloquently:

There is a word in Korean. In-Yun. It means “providence” or “fate.” … I think it comes from Buddhism and reincarnation. It's an In-Yun if two strangers even walk by each other in the street and their clothes accidentally brush. Because it means there must have been something between them in their past lives. If two people get married, they say it’s because there have been 8,000 layers of In-Yun over 8,000 lifetimes.

Writer/director Song has the courage to end Past Lives with a lump-in-the-throat sense of melancholy, leaving it up to you to contemplate what these people mean to each other in past lives, this life, and perhaps in lives yet to come.
__________________
Scarecrow: I haven't got a brain ... only straw. Dorothy: How can you talk if you haven't got a brain? Scarecrow: I don't know. But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't they? Dorothy: Yes, I guess you're right.



Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain
I've been working on sourcing the upcoming movies from streaming sources. It finally prodded me into getting connected to Kanopy (your local library may have different choices, if I understand the service correctly). Here's what I have so far. Does anyone know streaming sources for my two gaps here? Or better sources in general? (Investing in more DVDs isn't an option for me these days.)




apparently Leila's Brothers is on Solidarity Cinema. you can access their catalog via their plex server or they can send you a google drive link i believe and At Play in the Fields of the Lord can be rented on apple in the US.



You can rent At Play in the Fields of the Lord from either Apple or Fandango at Home (which used to be called Vudu).

I'm not seeing Leila's Brothers available anywhere, and my library system does not have a copy, so I'm not sure what I'll do about that one.



Trouble with a capitial 'T'
I've been working on sourcing the upcoming movies from streaming sources. It finally prodded me into getting connected to Kanopy (your local library may have different choices, if I understand the service correctly). Here's what I have so far. Does anyone know streaming sources for my two gaps here? Or better sources in general? (Investing in more DVDs isn't an option for me these days.)

I have free links for all movies. That's the first thing I do in an HoF is acquire all the movies. A couple of them were really hard to find. I'll PM you my all my links....If anyone else wants links just give a shout out.