Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora's family emigrates from South Korea.
Two decades later, they are reunited in New York for one fateful week as they confront notions of destiny, love, and the choices that make a life, in this heartrending modern romance.
Critics Reviews
- “Past Lives is schematic but effective; what makes it work are the performances by Greta Lee and Teo Yoo as these star-crossed not-quite lovers’ adolescent and adult incarnations.” – Adam Nayman (The Ringer)
- “Past Lives is quietly powerful – an understated examination of longing, connection, and unconsummated love.” – James Berardinelli (ReelViews)
- “The tug of Past Lives is situated in the many moments that come together to shape the film into a meaningful whole about love—lost and found, abandoned and claimed.” – Namrata Joshi (The New Indian Express)
- “In this leisurely, graceful, mesmerizing romance, the magnetic Lee navigates between the past and the present, pragmatism and magical possibilities.” – Thelma Adams (AARP Movies for Grownups)
- “Past Lives feels so deliciously restrained that it makes even quiet dramas seem histrionic. And yet it’s a wide emotional field that gives its characters room to breathe… if Past Lives isn’t 2023’s best film, we’re in for an incredible year of cinema.” – John Wenzel (Denver Post)