Past Lives (2023)

What happens when someone important from your past reappears? This movie explores the Korean concept of “in-yun,” which means that if you meet someone, even briefly, it means you also met in a past life. It means that person is important to your story, in the past, in the present, and in the future, somehow, some way.

Years ago in South Korea, 12-year-old Nora is close friends with a boy in her class named Hae Sung. They both like each other and go on a date. Shortly after, their lives are ripped apart when Nora’s family immigrates to Canada. When Nora is 24 and living in New York City, she reconnects with Hae Sung online. He’s now an engineering student in Seoul, and he has never stopped thinking about her.

Their timing just isn’t right, and another 12 years pass before they are able to meet, this time in person. They know that their time together is limited: Hae Sung has to return to Seoul, and Nora has to stay in Toronto. Not to mention that Nora is happily married.

Past Lives is a beautiful and moving film about love, loss, and the ties that bind us. It is a film that will stay with you long after you have seen it.