“Past Lives” has already captivated audiences at the Sundance and Berlin film festivals. We were also enthusiastic and took out the rare maximum rating of 5 stars. Here’s the trailer for the touching romance of a different kind:

Past Lives focuses on three people: Nora (Greta Lee), Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) and Arthur (John Magaro). Nora and Hae Sung are inseparable at the age of twelve, but then she emigrates to Canada with her family while he stays in Korea. Twelve years later, he finds his childhood sweetheart via the internet, who now lives in New York. With countless video calls, the old chemistry is back, but so is long distance. Twelve years later, he travels to New York to finally meet her. But Nora has been married to Arthur for seven years now.

In a scene from Past Lives, writer Arthur remarks that in a fictional story he would be the evil white American who squeezes between the happiness of two teenage lovers. But the special thing about Celine Song’s romantic drama is that there are no such classic characters and such black and white drawings. The Canadian-Korean playwright doesn’t tell the standard romance here – and that’s what makes her film so good.

German cinema release of “Past Lives”: still unknown!

have song delivered one of the “realest, most mature, most honest, most moving, most lucid and cleverest romantic movies ever”, says the conclusion of our CELEBTAP review. We give 5 stars, a rating we rarely give. For example, in the entire last launch year of 2022, only one film (“The Innocents”) received this top rating (and the review even appeared in 2021, so that before “Past Lives” no 5-star review appeared on our site for more than a year).

“Past Lives” is already being discussed as a possible Oscar candidate for 2024. There is still a long way to go until then, so the question is when we can see it on the big screen in Germany after the 2023 Berlinale. Unfortunately, this is currently unknown. No German distributor has yet revealed that they have the rights to bring the film to cinemas. But it should only be a matter of time before a corresponding announcement follows.

The best romantic comedy of the last 15 years is on Disney+ and it doesn’t have a cheesy happy ending