[Slate] The Dot That Turned Past Life into Present... A Comma, Not a Period

Director Celine Song's 'Fast Lives'
Putting a Comma Like a Full Stop on Old Relationships
More Progressive and Reformist Than Pi Cheon-deuk's 'Inyeon'

※ This article contains many potential spoilers for the movie.

In the movie 'Fast Lives,' Haesung (Yoo Tae-o) and Nayoung (Greta Lee) reunite after 24 years. "Wow, it's you." "Wow, what should I do? What should I say?" "I don't know." The awkward atmosphere doesn't last long. They soon make eye contact and reminisce about old times. It is not a chance encounter. Their hearts have been drawn to each other like metal to a magnet for a long time. They just couldn't stick together due to various practical barriers.

Director Celine Song minimizes the disconnected time and unfolds the story. Through clever editing, she gives continuity to the longing they feel for each other. The unresolved emotions spin around like a carousel. Haesung and Nayoung revisit those moments together, one by one.

"Why did you look for me?" "Are you really that curious? I just wanted to see you once. I don't really know. Somehow, I was pissed off that you left me behind and just took off." (omitted) "I just thought of you when I was in the military." "I see. We were really babies back then." "Right. Even when we met again 12 years ago (via video chat), we were babies." "Now we're not babies anymore."

They already know. The emotional reunion marks the full stop of an old relationship. They express their will to move forward without regrets for the rest of their lives. Because of such effort, 'Fast Lives' is more progressive and reformative than Pi Cheon-deuk (1910?2007)'s 'Inyeon (Fate).' Pi Cheon-deuk never imagined seeing Asako's face wilting like a lily in a house with a pointed roof and pointed windows.

"He was still a young man who should have been fresh. The husband was not Japanese as I imagined, nor American, but a man who seemed to boast that he was a Pearl Harbor officer. Asako and I bowed several times and parted without shaking hands. Even though we missed each other, sometimes we met once and then never again, sometimes we lived without meeting while never forgetting. Asako and I met three times. The third time, it would have been better not to meet."

Pi Cheon-deuk organized his regretful memories into essays and went to Soyang River to see the autumn scenery. He cut off lingering attachments through an active form of 'letting go.' Of course, he valued small connections more than anyone. Rather than shallowly interacting with many people, he deeply befriended a few. In his essay 'The Image of Salvation,' he wrote: "I do not neglect past connections. Because they are part of one's life. (omitted) I cherish a few people dearly. But I serve no one."

As Pi Cheon-deuk described, life is made up of small elements. None of them are predictable. On the day Haesung and Nayoung reunite, the forecasted rain does not fall; it is a continuous irregularity. That is why they repeatedly fail to achieve their wishes and keep thinking about 'what if.'

Haesung and Nayoung try to break free from such cycles. But fate does not necessarily require meeting face to face in the same time and space to establish a connection. Even if they never meet directly, if the other’s writings or achievements left in the world have a significant impact, that is also fate. Pi Cheon-deuk also mentioned the connections he had with already deceased figures like Shakespeare, Charles Lamb, and Einstein during his lifetime.

The relationship between Haesung and Nayoung is no different. Even if they never meet again, it is fate. Even if their steps head in opposite directions, they cannot deny the tightly bound string. That is why the past life they speak of becomes the present life, and parting promises a new connection. "If this is also a past life, wouldn't we already be different connections to each other in our next life? Who will we be then?" "I don't know." "Me neither. See you then."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.