Past Lives (2023)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Past Lives (2023) – C. Song

Celine Song’s debut film is a wistful and melancholy reflection on many things, chiefly the people we used to be in earlier parts of our lives.  Perhaps it is telling that the film includes two lengthy flashback scenes: first, 24 years ago when the protagonists are around 12 years old and living in Korea, and then again 12 years after that, when one of them (now named Nora; played by Greta Lee) lives in New York City (after her family migrated first to Toronto) and the other (Hae Jung; played by Teo Yoo) remains in Korea.  They found each other as a result of facebook.  I am sure this was a common experience at the time (it was for me!) as people suddenly found that they could look up old primary and secondary school friends to find out where they were now (and marvel at how much everyone had aged).  But intriguingly those people you found again only knew a past version of you, one that might not even feel accurate anymore.  And, as Song points out, this odd feeling might be even more significant for migrants, who may have even starker differences between past and present selves, including speaking different languages, practicing different cultural norms, etc.  Such is the case for Nora.  Yet, it is easy to romanticize the past, probably even for those who have not moved places (as much as some of us have). In the film we are led to feel that there could be romantic possibilities between Nora and Hae Jung based on their friendship at age 12 and their rapid re-engagement 12 years later.  But another 12 years pass before they actually meet face-to-face and by then, Nora is married (to a Jewish American, Arthur; played by John Magaro).  When Hae Jung shows up in New York, will Nora leave Arthur for him?  Arthur worries about this “fairy tale” possibility (and the Korean notion of pre-reincarnation past lives creating a sort of destiny for lovers in this life). However, Nora (and Celine Song, whose story this may be) may be more realistic than the men in her life. Naturally, this film hit me in all sorts of ways and might be more relevant for me than others, as a migrant myself, married to a migrant from Japan, and, especially, as a 56 year old with many past selves. The reflective tone (punctuated by quiet shots of NYC with appropriate music) was just right for contemplating these things as well as the beautifully acted characters and relationships within the film.

Asteroid City (2023)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Asteroid City (2023) – W. Anderson

I guess we all know what to expect from a Wes Anderson film by now: quirky characters played by name-brand actors (and handpicked children or adolescents), outstanding but heavily stylized art direction (with splendid use of colour), carefully chosen pop songs on the soundtrack, and a certain mix of nostalgic, melancholic, whimsical, absurd, wry, knowing, and even dark moments (often all at the same time).  So, with his 11^th feature, do we just get more of the same?  The answer is basically yes.  This time, Anderson takes us to Asteroid City (somewhere in the West of the USA but filmed in Spain) in the 1950s where young people who have won a science competition creating futuristic inventions (focused on space, mostly) are congregating for an event (chaired by General Grif Gibson – Jeffrey Wright). The main focus (if you are able to focus amidst the busy mise en scene) is on Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman) who is chaperoning his son Woodrow (Jake Ryan) but who also has his three daughters with him because their car broke down on the way to the house of his father-in-law (Tom Hanks), who then arrives to take them back.  Also present are movie star Midge Campbell (Scarlett Johansson) and her daughter Dinah (Grace Edwards).  These families are marked by absent spouses and their reaction to the fractured nuclear family (caused by death/illness/violence) is the dark vein that Anderson mines here.  But it is easy to be distracted by all of the other events, characters, asides, music, visual references, etc. that he throws at you.  For example, you wouldn’t be surprised if Wile E. Coyote showed up at any moment, as the art direction here is cribbed straight from Chuck Jones (the roadrunner is here, although the coyote is noted only in passing). There are also singing cowboys, flying saucers, a very topical quarantine, allusions to Marilyn Monroe – in fact, the whole thing is staged as a play within a movie, where Bryan Cranston narrates a recounting of what appears to be a Group Theatre production (with Willem Dafoe and his actors assisting playwright Edward Norton to develop what we are seeing in the film). As such, Anderson repeatedly breaks the third wall and the actors play characters playing characters, not just the characters themselves.  It is dizzying.  So, as before, your enjoyment of the film is going depend on your appetite for Anderson. If you’ve cultivated an appetite already, I would say that Asteroid City feels a bit fresher than The French Dispatch (2021) but doesn’t reach the exalted heights of the Grand Budapest Hotel (2014).  I haven’t checked out Anderson’s other 2023 releases – a trio of shorts drawn from the work of Roald Dahl on Netflix – which suggests a surging productivity in the director.  But how much is too much?