Cinema Savannah screens regional premiere of Korean romantic drama 'Past Lives'

Summer may be the time for blockbusters starring Tom Cruise, but Cinema Savannah is continuing its streak of delighting discerning cinephiles by screening important, original films that are not yet available for streaming, and can’t be seen anywhere else in the area.

“I’m trying to do the real regional premieres,” said Cinema Savannah’s curator Tomasz Warchol.

In recent months, Cinema Savannah has screened gems like L'immensità starring Penelope Cruz, the French dramedy Other People’s Children, and the heart-wrenching Pakistani film Joyland.

“I’ve been doing it for over twenty years, so I have relationships with distributors,” Warchol said of his success at curating unique movies for adventurous filmgoers.

With new films hitting streaming services sooner and sooner after theatrical runs, Warchol has managed much of the time to get foreign and art films onto the big screen for exclusive regional presentations. Sometimes Cinema Savannah is the only way to see lesser-known movies.

“That was the case with Cadejo Blanco,” said Warchol. “It was a Guatemalan film. I remember he let me show it almost half a year ago and only now are they rolling out the limited release. It was a small film, but still, it makes me happy and feel kind of important.”

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Already called one of 2023's 'best films'

For its next screening, Cinema Savanna his presenting Past Lives, the debut film by Korean/American/Canadian playwright Celine Song.

Past Lives, which stars Greta Lee (“Russian Doll”), Teo Yoo, and John Magaro, is a deeply romantic and philosophical film about a pair of Korean friends who share a strong bond of love over long distance and several decades.

The film follows Nora (Lee) and Hae Sung (Yoo), two childhood friends with a deep connection who are separated when Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea to Canada. Even as children, the couple seem destined for marriage, but distance and different life paths have altered that trajectory in their relationship.

Twelve years later, Nora and Sung reconnect on Facebook and rekindle their friendship over Skype, but Nora cuts things off because she has ambitions to become a playwright that don’t align with Sung’s life as an engineering student in Seoul.

After another dozen years of separation, Sung visits Nora, who now lives in New York City and is married to an affable white playwright named Arthur (Magaro). Through their tender, yearning interactions the film explores feelings of longing, nostalgia, regret, and questions about destiny and even the experience of being an immigrant.

Past Lives was a Berlin Festival Golden Bear Nominee and winner of multiple Hollywood Critics’ Association Awards. It has also garnered hyperbolic praise from top film critics.

“The critics that write about it, the praise is so glowing, they are swept up, and that doesn’t happen very often,” said Warchol.

Rolling Stone called Past Lives “a movie that liberates your tears and makes you fall in love with it. It is almost assuredly predestined to be the single best movie you see this year.”

The Washington Post said, “Celine Song makes a quietly spectacular writing-directing debut with Past Lives, a lyrical slow burn of a film that expertly holds back wellsprings of emotion, until it unleashes a deluge.”

And the Denver Post said, “… if Past Lives isn’t 2023’s best film, we’re in for an incredible year of cinema.”

Cinema Savannah is screening Past Lives at the Savannah Cultural Arts Center, which has proven to be an accommodating space to view and discuss films with like-minded film buffs. They may not serve concessions, but then again there is a reason loud tentpole films are called “popcorn movies.” Nobody wants to hear the crunching of snacks during an intimate arthouse film.

Past Lives is rated PG-13, and is in English and Korean with English subtitles.

What: Cinema Savannah presents “Past Lives”

When: 7 p.m., July 21

Where: Savannah Cultural Arts Center, 201 Montgomery St.

Cost: $10, cash preferred

Info: allevents.in/savannah

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Cinema Savannah screens regional premiere of Korean drama 'Past Lives'