I can’t recall why I was asked to go to a certain YMCA week long camp back in 2003 (probably so my little brother was not alone, even though I hardly saw him the whole week), but the last night was indeed eventful.
We had a canoe ride that was to be followed by a dance, in which a girl I developed a summer crush on said she would dance with me. The canoe ride when over by an hour or so (we got lost in the rain), but I got that last bit of time to dance with her (to Elvis Presley’s “Can’t help falling in love”, for that matter).
After camp, we exchanged AIM usernames, but lost touch over a year or so after. To this day, I hate to say that I can’t recall her name (I want to say Kristen?), but I remember the username: Krazy Kolle (it may have been K0llE).
Moments like these (which we have all had to some degree or another) are what come to mind when I remember Celine Song’s Past Lives. Song’s directorial debut (her second was the recently released Materialists) is drenched in the pursuit of romantic nostalgia. The avatar of that pursuit is Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), who decides to seek out an old “girlfriend”, Nora, he went on a “date” with in his pre teen years before she moved away. Despite Nora (now grown up and played by Greta Lee) being married, there is still a connection that they feel.
Even two years after the film’s release, I feel hesitant to go further into the plot: it is truly a film that works best when you go in cold. What I will say is that what makes the film work most effectively is how courageous Song is as a filmmaker (as well as the screenwriter, which she was nominated for at the Oscars). The dialogue here is so authentic even if you have not been in situations like the characters have. Consider the scene where the grown up Nora is laying in bed talking to her husband Arthur (played by the immaculate John Magaro). I am not married, but this scene seems like something married people could talk about late at night when they are unable to sleep.
Then, of course, there is the end, where Nora and Hae Sung are waiting for his Uber ride. That segment of nearly 35 seconds (I clocked it the second time I saw the film) is as suspenseful as anything that cinema has given me this century. It is not entirely a “Will they, won’t they?” situation so much as it is making sure the film does not take any cliche routes. Add in the actors not breaking eye contact or the stunning silence and you got a pure example of masterclass filmmaking.
I mentioned how the film nails the idea of pursuing romantic nostalgia, but one could also say it is about romanticizing nostalgia (something I am always guilty of). I think back to the YMCA camp, and that girl with KrazyKolle as an aim user name (I truly hope she is doing well). To paraphrase dialogue from this film, that girl probably does not exist anymore.
But that does not mean she was not real.
(As of this writing, Past Lives is on Netflix, Paramount Plus, and VOD).
Nothing else to say 