Past Lives (2023)
Directed by Celine Song
After decades apart, childhood friends Nora and Hae Sung are reunited in New York for one fateful weekend as they confront notions of destiny, love, and the choices that make a life.
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What critics compared Past Lives to
In her follow-up to her Oscar nominated debut "Past Lives," writer/director Celine Song once again features a woman caught between two men, but this time she's viewing them through an entirely different lens, one she experienced herself during six months as a professional matchmaker in New York City.
Past Lives (2023; Kanopy, Netflix, Paramount+, YouTube Primetime, rentable): In Song’s debut, an immigrant (Greta Lee) reconnects with an old flame from South Korea and wonders what could have been.
Similarly to how her previous film focused on what might have been between two childhood sweethearts, Materialists walks a similar route examining the relationship between a pragmatist and a dreamer.
But as with Past Lives, audiences will have a lot to think about in the days after they see it.
Si Past Lives hablaba de conexiones invisibles que sobreviven al tiempo y la distancia, aquí el foco está en lo tangible: el sueldo, el estatus, el valor percibido.
In her Oscar-nominated debut, 2023’s transcendent Past Lives, an émigré reconnects with her Korean childhood sweetheart, weighing their what-might-have-been against the tangible present tense she shares with her American husband. Materialists tenders another sharp contrast – between financial security with the attentive, strikingly confident Harry, or something more engine-revving with John, a broke 37-year-old grump still living with roommates.
The film carries echoes of other movies like Wong Kar-wai's “In the Mood for Love,” Richard Linklater's “Before Sunrise,” and David Lean's “The Passionate Friends,” but “Past Lives” so confidently belongs to Song—the way she envelopes the settings around her characters, how carefully she constructs their relationship over the years, and how quickly she returns that excited feeling to their conversations after years of silence.
With a script penned by playwright Justin Kuritzkes (who also happens to be married to Past Lives writer-director Celine Song), the barbing nature of the dialogue is mirrored not only by the high-octane back and forth on the tennis court, but also the high-octane soundtrack—provided by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross—to match.
While this isn't a tale taken from actuality, Kuritzkes is the husband of filmmaker Celine Song, whose Oscar-nominated 2023 debut Past Lives not only leapt into another complicated love triangle but was loosely drawn from her own experiences.
Written by Justin Kuritzkes (the husband of celebrated Past Lives writer/director Celine Song), Challengers explores the complicated relationship between three young tennis players.
It should be noted that Challengers was written by playwright and novelist Justin Kuritzkes, who lately is best known for being the husband of Past Lives writer-director Celine Song.
His wife, Celine Song, also made her writing and directing debut in Challengers‘ more introspective and sincere threesome sibling, 2023’s Past Lives.
Celine Song (Past Lives — outstanding; Materialists — a total miss)…