Past Lives

Past Lives is a recent find that I found unexpectedly powerful. While the film ostensibly centers on a love triangle between a woman, her husband, and her childhood crush, the story really explores the complexities of immigrant identity, the simultaneous familiarity and estrangement of the culture one has to leave behind. Specifically, the film implicitly considers the sacrifices of creative people who must move to pursue their dreams. The protagonist’s parents are both creatives (artist and filmmaker), and she is a writer who immigrates again as an adult to pursue her dreams. For me, the film beautifully illustrated the possibility and loss of both immigration and the instability of a creative life.