On February 29, the melodrama 'Past Lives' is released in Russian theaters, marking the directorial debut of Celine Song and already receiving two Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. We tell you why in a film with a love...

The main character Nora (Greta Lee), like Celine Song herself, left Korea at age 12, first settling with her parents in Canada and then in New York. She is also a successful playwright who has dreamed since childhood of winning an award for her literary achievements. Whether the film's autobiographical nature ends with these similarities is not exactly known, but it is quite possible that 'Past Lives' became a reflection of Celine Song's own experiences.

Before leaving Korea, the heroine was friends with her classmate named Hae Sung (Teo Yoo). It so happens that 12 years later they find each other on social media and revive their communication, and another 12 years later Hae Sung comes to New York to see Nora, despite the fact that she is already married.

This situation can loosely be called a love triangle in which Nora seems to keep some distance from all its participants. Moreover, after marriage, the heroine does not suffer from choosing between Arthur (John Magaro) and her childhood friend. The climax does not contradict the setup, because from the very beginning it is clear that friendship will remain friendship, no matter how painful it may be.

Hae Sung is an illusionary hero. There is no chance of him reuniting with Nora, but he creates a strong image necessary for Nora to make a final choice. The old friend embodies the past—a distant and almost forgotten but native Korea (from Nora's side, one can hear about him: 'he's quite masculine, in a Korean style,' 'still lives with his parents, a typical Korean').

Communicating with her childhood friend is a way for Nora to briefly return to her homeland without buying a ticket to . Her longing for Hae Sung is almost the same as her longing for carefree years, narrow streets, and school friends. Arthur, in turn, embodies the present, embodying New York and the work Nora loves.

Roman Kovalev

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The heroine does not try to choose between the past and the present because the choice is obvious. Memories of her friend are not a painful feeling that could make her turn back time, but simply a slight nostalgia with which people remember their school years. Nora does not tear Korea out of herself, but learns to live with it, hiding it inside and letting it out only in the flow of the unconscious.

The image of Hae Sung is not only a personification of longing for the 'golden past.' He provides an important contrast in Nora's attitude: by revealing his idealist soul, Hae Sung exposes the heroine's rather materialistic thinking. It seems that life circumstances and manifestations of reality cannot influence him. Nora notices this ('Marriage is hard for people like you, die-hard idealists'), but her friend is not a new young Werther, because he finds the strength to accept even this, indulging in thoughts about past and future lives. Humble suffering, not expressed outwardly, elevates heroes like him. Although in New York they mean nothing.

Nora, in contrast to her friend, is a materialist. Listing the main events in their love story, Arthur says that their marriage is not so romantic. They met at a writers' camp, got married early because of the green card, and moved in together because renting an apartment together is cheaper. If earlier Nora lived by an unattainable ideal, then having approached it, she lost this trait.

This is where the boundary between Nora and Celine Song lies. Nora was hardened by the journey from a Korean little girl to an American playwright, but the director is spiritually more like Hae Sung. She is a true contemplator, able to find beauty in the smallest and most insignificant details of reality.

Therefore, 'Past Lives' is a slow and truly beautiful film. Song could not only play a nocturne on the flute of drainpipes but also find a special charm in a glass of water and a cut lemon on the bedside table. She constantly adds inclusions to the touching love story that slow down the narrative. Cityscapes, nature, thick fog, curtains with warm summer wind do not bring any great meaning but create a special tempo.

'Past Lives' does not show the difficult path to achieving the ideal that Nora dreamed of while sitting at her desk in middle school. This film is not about the importance of reaching the finish line, but about the importance of not forgetting why and where you were running, not losing the ability to contemplate, and not cutting out memories of the past, even if they make you nostalgic. You can understand yourself only by finding poetry in the little things, slowing down and stopping to make sure that the waves of the Hudson are the same color as yesterday.