Why we picked it – It’s close to Valentine’s Day. Here is an unusual romance.
Trailer
Synopsis – Seoul, 2000. Na Young and Hae Sung are 12-year-old close childhood friends, but Na Young’s family emigrates to Toronto and the two lose contact. Na Young changes her name to Nora Moon. Twelve years later, Nora discovers on Facebook that Hae Sung is looking for her. They reconnect through video calls, but are unable to visit each other. Nora meets her husband Arthur, and tells him about the Buddhist-derived concept of inyeon, how a relationship between two souls in the present life is influenced by their relationships in thousands of past lives. Twelve more years pass, Hae Sung comes to New York to meet Nora again. Arthur wonders if he is a roadblock in their imperfect love, but Nora reaffirms that she loves Arthur. When they all go out for dinner, Nora and Hae Sung speak exclusively in Korean. Hae Sung wonders what they were to each other in their past lives, and what would have happened if she had never left South Korea and they stayed together. The time for Hae Sung’s departure approaches. Will they? Won’t they?
The film – Who has not wondered what might have been if we had made different choices or events had turned out differently? This is restrained romantic cinema with classic plot devices of “picking mister right” and “love rivals fight to win the girl”, but it brings a reflective mood of lives not led, roads not taken and the futile luxury of regret. Try counting all the shots with mirrors and windows. Here is a Q and A with Celine Song the director.
And here is a bonus. Andrew Newton (from All of Us Strangers) and Greta Lee (from Past Lives) compare and contrast their films and the roles they played.
Director and Writer – Celine Song Cinematography – Shabier Kirchner