Past Lives

Director: Celine Song
Year Released: 2023
Rating: 1.0

Little Nora (Seung Ah Moon) immigrates to Canada from her native South Korea leaving her "first love" Hae Sung (Seung Min Yim) behind - as adults many years later, she (Greta Lee) "reconnects" with him (Teo Yoo) using Skype, they lose touch again, she marries Arthur (John Magaro) after meeting him at a writer's retreat ... but then Hae Sung comes visit her in New York City.  Song, for her directorial debut, attempts to make a K-drama but in feature length format, except this isn't steadily developed over multiple episodes to allow time for her storyline to develop ... and it's leisurely placed considering how thinly her characters are written.  Several questions spring to mind, too: isn't it a tad creepy to be fixated on someone you went to elementary school with?  Doesn't that suggest both leads may be emotionally immature?  Furthermore, what are we supposed to think about Arthur, whose spouse is in love with another man?  Or don't his feelings matter?