🍿75: Past Lives (Part 2)
This week's bonus issue comes with the full Past Lives review, along with the usual morsels of Salty Popcorn.
“Remember what we said when we got married? That we'd move to America and save each other?”
~ Minari, 2020
A promise is a promise…
SP is back again for the second consecutive week, this time with the Past Lives review, as promised, along with the usual tidbits of Salty Popcorn. We'll keep the intro short because we’ve got a lot to cover.
Now for the headlines:
From dinner with Bob Odenkirk and David Cross, to having Lena Dunham paint a mural in your home, Hollywood stars are running auctions to raise money for production crews amid the ongoing strikes. Read more.
Eddie Izzard is set to play Doctor Jekyll in a modern retelling of Robert Louis Stevenson’s iconic story. Read more.
British broadcaster ITV picks up the rights for the Oscars in the UK. Read more.
Speaking of the Oscars, Finland selects Aki Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves for the International Feature Category. Read more.
And finally, Meryl Streep has said she would “totally” be up for returning for Mamma Mia! 3 as a Reincarnated Donna. Read more.
Upcoming Releases
The Royal Hotel
UK: 6 October // USA: 6 October
Backpackers Hanna (Julia Garner) and Liv (Jessica Henwick) take on a job in a remote Australian pub for some extra cash, where they’re confronted by unruly locals and a situation that spirals out of their control.
One Life
UK: 5 January // USA: 5 January
Starring Anthony Hopkins and Johnny Flynn, One Life is based on the true story of Nicholas Winton who helped Jewish children flee German-occupied Czechoslovakia just before the beginning of WWII.
Ferrari
UK: 29 December // USA: 25 December
This one slipped under the radar last week, but Adam Driver will once again play the man behind a luxury Italian brand in Michael Mann’s Ferrari.
Fact of the week
Director James Cameron was so dedicated to details when filming Titanic that the set for the ship was constructed to be almost as large as the actual Titanic. As a result, the film’s budget spiralled to $200m, which at the time made it the most expensive film ever made.
What’s even more interesting is that Cameron forfeited his entire director’s salary and percentage of the gross to ensure the film could be completed. As we know now, his financial gamble paid off, as Titanic went on to become one of the highest-grossing films ever made and won 11 Academy Awards.
If you’re not interested in budgets, revenues and set design, you might prefer to know that Leonardo DiCaprio didn’t draw the nude sketch of Kate Winslet, Cameron did — though she did wear a swimming suit while posing.
Review: Past Lives
Star rating:
4 (out of 5)
Where to watch:
USA: Only in cinemas
UK: Only in cinemas
Runtime:
1hr 46m
Director:
Celine Song
Blurb:
Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart when Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea. Decades later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront destiny, love and the choices that make a life.
The review (NO spoilers):
With its stunning cinematography, Past Lives excels at showing the intricacies of love and friendship while examining the complexities and nuances of human relationships. It explores the very meaning of soul mates, and in doing so creates a story that is as romantic as it is heartbreaking.
While the love between the central characters Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) may not be forbidden, there is, it seems, an impossibility in their being together. Despite the connection between them and their closeness, something — whether it’s the distance between Seoul and NYC, or circumstance — always gets in the way.
No matter how close our protagonists are, there’s always a gap they can’t quite close. Cinematographer Shabier Kirchner has done a wonderful job of creating subtle visual metaphors to portray moments like this. There’s one shot in particular that stands out, where, through the window of the adjacent carriage, we see them riding the subway. As the train goes around a bend, the vertical handrails align perfectly between them, as though they’re on the opposite sides of a fence.
Naturally, the state of Nora and Hae Sung’s relationship leads to a breadth of mixed feelings that both Lee and Yoo acutely portray. From the boundless joy of finding each other years after childhood, to the sadness for what could have been, which is itself a central theme.
The Korean word ‘inyeon’, which describes the spiritual belief that people stay tethered to each other by the connections formed in their past lives, comes up more than once. In Nora’s own words, “If two people get married, they say it’s because there have been 8,000 layers of inyeon over 8,000 lifetimes.” Whether Nora or Hae Sung believe in inyeon is for the audience to decide, but it feels that, at the very least, they want to believe in it.
In summary, Past Lives is a beautifully subdued drama exploring love and friendship with a dreamy, lo-fi and contemplative score that does well to set the tone. This isn’t a rom-com or some earnest romance, it’s a modern and mellow love story.
Scroll down to see what’s in the next issue.
If you liked Past Lives…
Before Sunrise
1995 | UK: Amazon Prime (£3.49) // USA: Amazon Prime ($3.99)
Some parts of Past Lives reminded me of different films, including Close (which we gave 5* back in March), and The Worst Person in the World (only it’s not quite as good), but there’s something about the overall mood that reminds me of Lost in Translation and Before Sunrise.
I’ll be honest, I’m not a big fan of Before Sunrise so I’ve not seen the sequels, but as I understand it, Celine (Julie Delpy) and Jesse (Ethan Hawke) have a lot of inyeon. So, if you’re a hopeless romantic, this could be for you.
In the next issue:
El Conde
UK: 15 September // USA: 15 September | Watch the Trailer
