Celine Song on the power of awards and Guillermo del Toro loving ‘Past Lives’

“Past Lives” director Celine Song was in attendance at Sunday’s British Independent Film Awards as her acclaimed movie was up for Best International Independent Feature. Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” took home that prize (with “All of Us Strangers” winning Best Film overall). However, Song was an excellent ambassador for her passion project and generously gave her time to Gold Derby for an illuminating chat.

Her film follows Greta Lee and Teo Yoo as Nora and Hae Sung — two people who reconnect decades later after they were childhood friends who went down different paths in life. Song explained that she is grateful that she’s had many people reach out to her expressing the same sentiment. And none of those stood out more than a certain Oscar-winning director. “Guillermo del Toro. I feel like he was so generous and so sweet and I feel like he gives me so much strength. Him being so kind to me as a first time filmmaker, as a young filmmaker, it just meant the world,” Song said. “I also loved meeting Eric Roth. He was so sweet and so generous.”

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Song readily admitted that she hopes that Lee and Yoo, who are both on the precipice of sneaking into our Best Actress and Best Actor lineups, respectively, receive their own recognition in the weeks and months to come as they are “not just actors” to her but “partners.” Song said that these “creative partners” reminded her constantly throughout the shoot that she was capturing “special” acting on camera but one scene in particular stands out above the rest.

“When it came to the scene in the bar at the end. That was tremendously hard to pull off because so much of it is about holding back but also letting it blossom somehow. It had to feel completely effortless and it was the most difficult, deep thing,” Song said. “Anytime that you have to play contradictory emotions, you have to play both things at the same time, I think those are the things that are always amazing and it’s phenomenal as an actor to be able to do that. As a director, you see it, and you’re like ‘that’s going to be in the movie.’”

But while she said she always knew what she was going to get from her actors (brilliant performances), the cinematography in the film from Shabier Kirchner had to, sometimes, rely on spontaneity. “Past Lives” features exquisite performances, yes, but the film’s visual language is also a wonder to behold that many may not quite realise how good it is upon first viewing. There are many video essays breaking down just how genius the film’s simple but effective cinematography is, but one recurring visual theme in the movie is the fact that Hae Sung is always on the left and John Magaro’s Arthur (Nora’s husband) is always on the right while Nora is stuck in the middle between them, torn between them.

Song said that part of this visual language came to her during the writing process. “I was a writer for the longest time so of course there’s some ways that the story is put together in my mind in terms of how I structure it. But in terms of the camera, I was finding that with my DP on set. It depended on the scene. Some scenes were absolutely choreographed,” Song said. “Other scenes were more like ‘okay, we’re here. The sun’s there. We were planning on putting the camera here but you know what, that plan is not right.’ Some of it is the spontaneity of finding what feels organic.”

But what really helped the movie become a success, Song says, is the heart of the story and the characters, two things that were with her right the ay through every stage of making this film. “For me what was really helpful is that there were things that I already knew about the movie even before anybody else could see it, which was the story and character. Everything else – this is my first movie, I didn’t know anything else. But at the end of the day, that’s the thing you can hold onto from beginning to the end because you know what the movie you want to make is. And you have to believe in it and surround yourself in people who believe in it and trust yourself.”

We are predicting that “Past Lives” will be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars while we think Song will pick up a bid for Best Original Screenplay. We also think that Song, Lee, and Yoo could theoretically get in for Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Actor, respectively in what could be a glittering awards season for the film. But winning isn’t what awards season is about for Song. It’s about getting her debut film seen.

“Any time that you’re a part of the conversion about awards, it does mean that an independent film like this and a film that needs to find its audience, that has to ask for the audience to come see it, for us to then have a lot of attention — awards gives us a lot of attention. So for me, any time that awards get people to watch a movie, that part is special. That’s my favorite part.”

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