Past Lives

I’ve met many people who skip out on films like “Past Lives” on the basis they believe such smaller-scale tales garner lesser effort on the part of the filmmakers; two people making googly-eyes at each other costs less to film than King Kong punching Godzilla, after all. Ironic, then, that “Past Lives” is at once understated and effortful, a film full of stunning tracking shots and mesmerizing staging that also doesn’t draw attention to these aspects with golf claps. No chance it wins Best Picture (mature ruminations never win) but still the best romance film I’ve seen in some time.

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