Quote:
"Near the beginning of Celine Song's brilliant debut film Past Lives, two little Korean girls are choosing their English names as part of the family preparation for immigration to Canada. Na Young, age 12, can't quite settle on one; they all sound ridiculous to her. But then her father suggests 'Lenore,' Nora for short, and she likes the sound of that. She'll be Nora. In this new place, she'll be someone new. But she is leaving someone behind: Hae Sung, her closest friend, perhaps an innocent sweetheart. They compete for grades and walk home from school together, and when she leaves he's quietly devastated. The future, for him, has changed shape. Past Lives is a miraculous little film from A24, steady and slow and haunted, in the existential sense, by possibilities."
-- Alissa Wilkinson

Source:
Wilkinson, Alissa. "Past Lives is already one of the year's best films." Review of Past Lives. Vox, January 25, 2023.