John Magaro – MOVIESMARKUS

Is there such a thing as a soulmate? Is there such a thing as fate? In writer/director Celine Song’s feature debut, she examines these notions when telling the story of two childhood sweethearts, Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), who are separated when Nora’s family leaves South Korea. They lose touch but not their connection, as throughout the years they correspond via the internet, holding on to their unwavering attraction. It isn’t until over twenty years later that they mutually agree to meet when Hae Sung decides to travel to New York, where Nora now lives with her husband Arthur (John Magaro).

More than just your average love triangle drama, Song creates a quiet masterpiece, which through her characters, her direction and some stellar performances, tells the story of the passage of time as it pertains to the fate of two individuals. It’s not until the second half of the movie that these two see each other as adults, but during every moment Nora and Hae Sung share the screen, Song constructs a space where the world falls away and her characters are allowed to live the purity of their bond, albeit knowing that at any moment the real world will come crashing down upon them as time moves forward.

Told from the perspective of a first-generation immigrant living in America, the love Nora has for both men (her husband and her first love) in her adult life should also be seen as the symbolic struggle of someone with one foot in two cultures. This is a movie which explores the ever-present love for one’s home (the culture one grew up immersed in) and a new land that one wishes to plant their roots. The idea of having two names (one being an “American” name). The idea of having two lives, where two different languages are spoken. It’s all examined here through some of the most beautiful cinematography and direction I’ve seen all year, capturing Song’s grander themes regarding how devastating life can be, not solely through character dialogue, but glances and body language, and how her characters are framed on-screen at any given moment.

Final Thought: Holding true to its thematic concepts of the allure of forbidden love, the idea of fate and our cultural connection between the past and present, “Past Lives” is both visually and tonally brilliant enough to be considered a theatrical cousin to a movie like “In the Mood for Love”. And that’s arguably the best praise I can give it, so I think I’ll stop there.

Follow me on Twitter @moviesmarkus and Instagram @moviesmarkus1

Truthfully, I spent much of this movie waiting for the cow to come back on-screen.

“First Cow” opens with a rather long sequence of digging, followed by another long sequence that just so happened to be the movie itself. In all actuality the opening shot of this film does something very important, it sets up the pace of this movie; a pace that is very much content with simply taking inventory of the scenery. Meaning, this movie may be too slow for some (renter beware). At times the movie stops just so we can listen to the sound of wood being chopped or so characters can survey their surroundings in real time. But if you are familiar with writer/director Kelly Reichardt’s work (Wendy and Lucy, Certain Women) she’s known for these types of beautifully blocked visual sequences that are deliberately “meditative”.

Synopsis: A cook (John Magaro) traveling through the forest with a group of fur traders in 1820’s Oregon, crosses paths with a Chinese immigrant (Orion Lee). They become friends and together come up with a risky business venture involving the arrival of the first cow to be shipped into the area.

Reichardt and Jon Raymond adapt Raymond’s own novel (The Half-Life), developing a script where the dialogue is riddled with lines which on the surface seem quite simplistic, but in context speak bitingly to the themes of greed, colonialism and capitalism. It’s just a shame that Raymond’s work was paired up with Reichardt’s pacing.

So, the entire movie isn’t slow. Just the first hour…and the final thirty minutes. I have no problem with movies that take their time or “mood pieces” that are all about establishing the moment by forcing audiences to feel every second of time that ticks by. But if it’s so slow that I cease to care about characters or plot, then how much can you really expect me to endure?

There are movies where the less you know going in, the better the viewing experience will be. “First Cow” is not that movie. It’s a film I struggled to get through due to the initial hour, partially because I didn’t know the story would eventually pick-up.

Final Thought: I get it, “First Cow” is supposed to be “Midnight Cowboy” A24 style. And I am not at all surprised that this film has garnered such critical praise. It’s just my belief that “First Cow” gets this praise solely based on some beautiful cinematography, well written dialogue, the performances from the two leads and a folksy score. For the most part this is a boring movie, with a somewhat intriguing if not playful premise when it finally gets to it. “First Cow” could have been a short film. It should have been a short film.

Follow me on Twitter @moviesmarkus and on Instagram @moviesmarkus1