Past Lives (2023)

Matsumura Ryouko is a popular novelist in her 50s who has just found out that she has Alzheimer’s disease. In order to gain some fulfilment in her life, she decides to be a guest lecturer at a university. Through one of her students, she meets a South Korean exchange student, So Chan Hae. As they become closer, they fall in love.

We are shown the present and made to think about the past. It was so beautiful, why did/didn’t it work out? A lot of reminiscing but also reminders of the harshness of reality and how our dreams could get in the way of our fates, or the other way around. What is meant to be will find you, or will it?

Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora's family emigrates from South Korea. 20 years later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront notions of love and destiny.

Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora's family emigrates from South Korea. 20 years later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront notions of love and destiny.

Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora's family emigrates from South Korea. 20 years later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront notions of love and destiny.

A love story of the past 5,272 km, linking the two countries, Indonesia and Japan. Elly, Indonesian students, and Ryo, a young Japanese acquainted through social media. They also met in Japan, spending time together, and eventually fell in love. However, differences in language and culture in their way. How is the continuation of their love story?

Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora's family emigrates from South Korea. 20 years later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront notions of love and destiny.

Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora's family emigrates from South Korea. 20 years later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront notions of love and destiny.

Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora's family emigrates from South Korea. 20 years later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront notions of love and destiny.

First love coming from childhood, then several things happen and they go seperate ways only to reunite later in life.

Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora's family emigrates from South Korea. 20 years later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront notions of love and destiny.

Ami, a backpacker from Japan who is four years older than high school student Jimmy, shows up at his part-time job. The two end up spending the summer working at the same store, but Jimmy gradually develops a faint crush on Ami. The two of them grew closer as they rode motorcycles together at night and went to the movies, but suddenly, Ami decided to return to Japan. Ami proposes her "one promise" to Jimmy, who can't sort out his feelings. As time passes, Jimmy visits his parents' house for the first time in a while and finds a postcard that Ami sent him 18 years ago when she returned to Japan. Jimmy's memories of his first love come back to him, and he takes his first solo trip to Japan to confront his past and examine his present. Jimmy rides the train while listening to songs that remind him of his memories with Ami, and he heads to her hometown. Will Jimmy be able to reunite with Ami?

Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora's family emigrates from South Korea. 20 years later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront notions of love and destiny.

These are actually very different dramas, but they share a strong reliance on chemistry and body language over dialogue to convey relationships and feelings. Both are also atypical romances in that both FLs are married and not to the MLs (though the marriage in Past Lives is very stable). Both demonstrate that fate is determined by one's own decisions.

Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora's family emigrates from South Korea. 20 years later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront notions of love and destiny.