Past Lives — What We Don't Say

Nora Moon left South Korea for Toronto at twelve. Twenty years later, now living in New York and married to an American writer, she reconnects over video chat with Hae Sung, a boy she liked in elementary school. They do not have an affair. They do not almost have an affair. What they have is slower, sadder, and far more honest than either of those things. Celine Song, in her directorial debut, makes her statement of intent with a film that is almost entirely about what we don't say out loud.

Greta Lee's performance is built on the set of her shoulders. She is communicating, to Hae Sung and to the audience, information her character cannot speak. Teo Yoo (Hae Sung) has the more difficult acting job in the second half. John Magaro, as the American husband, turns in the year's quietest great supporting performance — a man whose jealousy is real but whose generosity is realer.

The final ten minutes of Past Lives are some of the most emotionally honest minutes in recent cinema. I have described them to three different friends and I cannot do it without tearing up.

Past Lives plays at Cineplex Cinemas Varsity, Imagine Market Mall, Scotiabank Theatre Toronto, Bloor Hot Docs. See it with somebody you love.