South Korea Synopsis
Two childhood friends are separated after one’s family emigrates from South Korea. Two decades later, they are reunited in New York for one week as they confront notions of destiny, love and the choices that make a life.
Audience Engagement
193 audience reviews — more than 91% of South Korea films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 98th percentile among South Korea films.
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with Past Lives. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
3 sharedSoulmate
★ 7.7 · South Korea
3 sharedThe Princess and the Pilot
★ 7.9 · Japan
2 sharedA Silent Voice: The Movie
★ 8.4 · Japan
2 sharedCrayon Shin-chan: Storm-invoking Passion! The Adult Empire Strikes Back
★ 8.3 · Japan
2 sharedZindagi Na Milegi Dobara
★ 7.5 · India
2 sharedThe Wedding Banquet
★ 7.1 · Taiwan
Drama + Romance in South Korea
150 South Korea titles in our catalog blend the Drama and Romance genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding Past Lives itself).
The 2022–2024 South Korea Window
Past Lives holds position #42 of 129 South Korea films in the 2022–2024 window, below highlighted by audience rating.
#1TOMORROW X TOGETHER: OUR LOST SUMMER
★ 9.4 · 2023
#2Under the Queen's Umbrella
★ 9.1 · 2022
#3BTS: Permission to Dance on Stage – LA
★ 9.0 · 2022
#4BTS Permission to Dance On Stage – Seoul: Live Viewing
★ 9.0 · 2022
#5The Good Bad Mother
★ 8.9 · 2023
#6The Fabulous
★ 8.8 · 2022
#7My Lovely Liar
★ 8.7 · 2023
#8Duty After School
★ 8.6 · 2023
The 2020s South Korea Landscape
Past Lives premiered in 2023 — a quieter year for South Korea cinema with only 32 titles in our catalog. The 2020s overall landed 301 films and series across 4 years of activity.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 31 other South Korea films in 2023.
The 1390th South Korea title from South Korea we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1955).
Our South Korea catalog contains 1,397 titles in total (931 films).
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Past Lives, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- immigrant · 5
- fate · 5
- independent film · 5
- regret · 4
- semi autobiographical · 4
- korean · 4
- playwright · 3
- asian american · 3
- ferry · 2
- retreat · 1
- skype · 1
- facebook · 1
- korean american · 1
- facetime · 1
- bitter · 1
- new york city · 23
- childhood friends · 17
- memory · 12
- childhood · 12
- language barrier · 10
- nostalgia · 10
- interracial relationship · 7
- woman director · 246
- friendship · 134
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #232 of 1,397 South Korea films indexed here (83rd percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +0.9 points above the South Korea average of 6.9/10.
Among South Korea Drama productions specifically: #168 of 868 (top 19%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | South Korea |
|---|---|
| All Production Countries | South Korea, United States of America |
| Original Language | En |
| Spoken Languages | English, Korean |
| Production Companies | A24, Killer Films, 2AM, CJ ENM |
| Runtime | 1h 46m |
| Release Date | June 2, 2023 |
| IMDb | tt13238346 |
| Official Site | a24films.com |