The Koreans have an interesting expression called “in-yeon” (인연). Put it into Google Translate and it comes up as “destiny”, but in Korean it means more than that. To Koreans it means the predetermined relationship that two people have with each other, sort of like finding someone with whom you have a spiritual connection that goes beyond your own lifetimes. The concept of “in-yeon” forms the basis of PAST LIVES, the semi-autobiographical debut feature film by South Korean-Canadian filmmaker-playwright Celine Song.

Nora Moon (Greta Lee, TV’s THE MORNING SHOW) is a South Korean-Canadian playwright living in New York City with her writer husband, Arthur (John Magaro, FIRST COW; OVERLORD). Twenty-four years earlier though, she was known as Moon Na Young, a spunky and smart, 12-year-old living with her family in Seoul. Her classmate and best friend at the time was a boy named Hae Sung and they were inseparable until the Moons immigrated to Canada. Twelve years later, they reconnected online but it wasn’t until another 12 years went by before they saw each other again. Now in New York, Hae Sung (South Korean-German actor Teo Yoo) has come to visit his childhood sweetheart. Are Nora and Hae Sung predestined to be together in this life or is “in-yeon” just a fantasy?

A colleague had seen PAST LIVES before I did and she warned me that it’s very Sundance-y. Yes, it is. It’s the kind of film that audiences and critics at that film festival love — beautifully shot, contemplative, with long stretches of no or sparse dialogue throughout. I’m all for letting silence do the talking — one of my favourite films of all time is Terrence Malick’s DAYS OF HEAVEN — but PAST LIVES seriously borders on being underwritten. After just having had a reunion in London with a close friend I hadn’t seen in ten years (granted, we weren’t childhood sweethearts though, who knows, we may have known each other in our past lives), I can say that Nora and Hae Sung were notably short on things to say to each other. My friend and I couldn’t stop talking, filling each other in on what’s been going on in our lives. Nora and Hae Sung may have had a lot in common when they were 12 years old but time has moved on and they have grown up and matured with separate interests and values. Indeed, when Hae Sung tells her he’s an engineer, she says that she doesn’t understand what that is and doesn’t press him for more detail. You’d think she’d be more interested or at least fake being interested. Perhaps it’s a cultural thing. Nora likes the idea of reconnecting with her past, and even though she brushes off “in-yeon” as something Korean people say to hit on each other, she does want to believe that she and Hae Sung have a connection that transcends time. She’s a Westerner now though, with a “white, Jewish husband”, as she says, and she’s grown used to being in that world.

By any standard and definitely for a first effort, Song does an impressive job so in that respect it’s not surprising that critics have been raving about this film. Compared to many east Asian films that age down its actors using layers of pancake makeup, bad hairstyling and soft focus, PAST LIVES does a good job making its three main actors look 24-ish. Song is perhaps less successful at making them look 36 but it’s not a deal breaker. (Lee and Magaro are now 40 while Yoo is 42.) Hae Sung’s blasé demeanor as he and Nora are walking through Brooklyn Bridge Park is rather surprising as well. I would have been more animated and happy to be with Nora in the Big Apple. Nora seems to find Hae Sung’s attitude masculine, in a traditional Korean way but to my Western eyes he seems boring. Again, maybe it’s a cultural thing.

PAST LIVES is opening in Hong Kong on Thursday, August 24th. I’m not as enamoured with it as the critics at Sundance are but it is a pretty good movie. While I do believe in destiny, I also believe that a spiritual connection is only going to get you so far in a relationship. You need to have a few words and actions to help it along.

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