“Past Lives,” February 27

Thursday, February 27, 6:30 p.m.

Figge Art Museum, 225 West Second Street, Davenport IA

A critically acclaimed 2023 release and Academy Award nominee for Best Picture and Original Screenplay, writer/director Celine Song's arresting, ravishingly emotional Past Lives enjoys a February 27 screening in the Figge Art Museum's “Free Film at the Figge” series, the semi-autobiographical work also included on Indiewire's list of the "Best American Independent Movies of the 21st Century."

With the movie starring Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, and John Magaro, Past Lives follows two childhood friends over the course of 24 years while they contemplate the nature of their relationship as they grow apart, living different lives. In 2000, in Seoul, South Korea, Na Young and Hae Sung are 12-year-old classmates who develop feelings for one another, although after Na Young's family immigrates to Toronto, the two lose contact. Twelve years later, after Hae Sung has finished his military service and Na Young, now named Nora, has moved to New York City, the young woman discovers on Facebook that Hae Sung had posted that he was looking for her, and the two reconnect through video calls even though they're unable to visit each other. And 12 years after that, with Nora now married to a writer named Arthur, Hae Sung travels to New York to finally visit Nora, the two forced to confront what they were to each other in their past lives, and what would have happened if Nora had never left South Korea and she and Hae Sung had stayed together.

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 95 percent of 314 critics' reviews of Song's film are positive, with an average rating of 9.1/10. The Web site's consensus reads: "A remarkable debut for writer-director Celine Song, Past Lives uses the bonds between its sensitively sketched central characters to support trenchant observations on the human condition." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 94 out of 100, based on 52 critics, indicating "universal acclaim."

Manohla Darghis, writing for the New York Times, compared the film to French romantic cinema, complimenting its restraint in the presentation of its main themes, and stating: "The movie’s modesty – its intimacy, human scale, humble locations and lack of visual oomph – is one of its strengths. The characters live in homes that are pleasant yet ordinary, the kind that you can imagine hanging out in, the kind you want to hang out in" And writing in The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw was fulsome in his praise, comparing Past Lives to the works of Richard Linklater, Noah Baumbach, and Greta Gerwig. He said of the film: "Past Lives is a glorious date movie, and a movie for every occasion, too. It's a must-see."

Past Lives will be screened in the venue's John Deere Auditorium on February 27, admission to the 6:30 p.m. showing is free, and attendees are invited to socialize and discuss the film afterward with a complimentary glass of wine, the event underwritten by Barb Zimmerman. For more information, call (563)326-7804 and visit FiggeArtMuseum.org.