Past Lives

"Past Lives is a strikingly romantic movie about what composes our lives."

— Jacob Oller, Paste Magazine

"This is a film containing oceans of truth, centuries of longing and vast feelings of open-hearted tenderness."

— Barry Hertz, The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

"It’s hard to imagine Past Lives not being one of 2023’s most talked-about films, and it richly deserves the honor."

— Alissa Wilkinson, Vox

"A movie that liberates your tears and makes you fall in love with it. It is almost assuredly predestined to be the single best movie you see this year."

— David Fear, Rolling Stone

"It’s difficult to convey the multilayered beauty of Past Lives beyond just urging people to see it and lose themselves in its transfixing spell."

— David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

"Past Lives is an exquisitely wistful drama that speaks with an honesty so affectingly crisp it will turn your conceptions of love, identity and fate on their head."

— Carlos Aguilar, TheWrap

"It’s soulful, tender — an understated triumph. Song’s directing and writing is confident, bringing so much heart and nuance to a simple story that is inspiring, delicate, and evocative."

— Mae Abdulbaki, Screen Rant

"Celine Song makes a quietly spectacular writing-directing debut with Past Lives, a lyrical slow burn of a film that expertly holds back wellsprings of emotion, until it unleashes a deluge."

— Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

"The dreamy, deliberate pacing of all of this never feels overlong. Instead, the film gathers you up in its hands and carries you along with it, resulting it what will surely be one of the best films of 2023."

— Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm

"However you write its title, Past Lives is a great romance, a great coming-of-age story, a great tale about the ways technology can bring people together (but only so far), a great New York City film, a great story about immigrants — and a great movie, period."

— Matt Singer, ScreenCrush

"There are three superb performances at the picture’s centre, but none is more radiant than that of Greta Lee, gracefully capturing the spirit of a searching soul who seems to understand things about the nuances of love that are beyond the grasp of the rest of us."

— Tim Grierson, Screen Daily

"Heads up, Oscar. First-time director Celine Song crafts the best movie of the year so far by using her own life to explore the meaning of destiny as a South Korean playwright (the glorious Greta Lee) is torn between a past love (Teo Yoo) and her American husband (John Magaro)."

— Peter Travers, ABC News

"The film explores the tender feelings of relationships at various stages, from budding playground crushes to adulthood’s alleged certainty. It’s the kind of nuanced movie that allows for self-reflection as well as entertainment, following two characters who illustrate how relationships—both fully realized and not—influence our lives."

— Monica Castillo, RogerEbert.com

"The best movies are little worlds that welcome you into the experiences of fascinating characters, giving you everything you need to understand their perspectives and actions. Past Lives does so in spades, painting on a small canvas, but with rich hues of emotion and meaning, knowing that a great story and a great life aren’t necessarily the same thing."

— Shannon Miller, Consequence

"Song has crafted a deliriously honest romantic drama that is utterly singular even while it calls to mind everything from Richard Linklater to Wong Kar-wai to David Lean’s Brief Encounter. This is a movie that flows over with patience, forgiveness, and tender wisdom — qualities all the more wondrous for their relative absence from modern society and its movies."

— Oliver Jones, Observer

"Song’s work here is incredible, as this story of the past and present, and what it means for the future is a carefully handled story told with love and heart. Greta Lee, Yoo Teo, and John Magaro make an incredible trio of performances, each of which hits on a unique and important perspective on this tale, in a film that you won’t want to leave, and will stick with you for long after."

— Ross Bonaime, Collider