‘Past Lives’ Is So Wonderful, You’ll Thank It for Breaking Your Heart
There are roughly 47,000—oh, wait, a new Netflix Original just dropped; make that 47,001—TV shows and movies coming out each week. At Obsessed, we consider it our social duty to help you see the best and skip the rest.
We’ve already got a variety of in-depth, exclusive coverage on all of your streaming favorites and new releases, but sometimes what you’re looking for is a simple Do or Don’t. That’s why we created See/Skip, to tell you exactly what our writers think you should See and what you can Skip from the past week’s crowded entertainment landscape.
See: Past Lives
Past Lives is an unforgettable, bittersweet, decade-spanning drama examining a couple’s predestined bond that can never be. No recent film has been better able to capture melancholic reconnection quite like this. Nicole Kidman was right—heartbreak does feel good.
Here’s Allegra Frank’s take:
“There is destiny, and then there is inyeon (or in-yeon). It’s one of those beautiful non-English words that hardly translates from its native language. But after watching Past Lives (in theaters June 2), you’ll never forget the meaning of it. You’ll be looking for it everywhere, longing for the depth of feeling it describes—the kind you’ll feel while watching this heartbreakingly brilliant, beautifully crafted film.
Inyeon is a Korean word, speaking to the Buddhist belief of a spiritual, predestined bond between two people. Soulmates don’t just find each other, 24-year-old Nora (Greta Lee) explains to her new friend (and future husband) Arthur (John Magaro), as they sit outside on a beautiful summer night in Montauk. Per inyeon, soulmates are two people who have dug through 8,000 layers of history—of lives—in order to make their fated connection. They are meant to be together in some way, whether it’s as two humans who fall in love or as a tree and its strongest branch.”
See: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is a stunning sequel that shows off just how capable superhero movies can be of telling moving, ambitious stories—without sacrificing any of that crash, bang, boom they’ve predicated themselves on for far too long.
Here’s Nick Schager’s take:
“Writers/producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s 2018 Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is one of modern superhero cinema’s genuine triumphs, this despite the fact that it helped make the multiverse—that dreaded concept which allows for endless reiterations, revisions and reboots—a mainstream staple.
There are even more Spider-men, women, children and animals to be found in its follow-up, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which hits theaters June 2, an overstuffed saga that boasts a heart and flair that only a few of its genre brethren can match. Sending its Brooklyn-native wall-crawler Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) on an odyssey to multiple mirror-image Earths, it’s a smashing success which proves that a surplus of web-slingers—and artistic imagination—is never enough.”
See: MerPeople
MerPeople is a four-part docuseries that takes what could easily be a joke—following around paid mermaid cosplayers—and transforms its silly subject into a legitimately touching look at how one person’s goofy hobby is another’s dream job.
Here’s Laura Bradley’s take:
“OK, I’ll admit it. When I first scrolled past MerPeople, Netflix’s new four-part docu-series about professional mermaids, I tuned in mostly for the spectacle. Blinded like a swimmer in brackish water, I assumed ‘professional mermaiding’ was mostly just poolside cosplay—an excuse for wigs, rhinestones, and expensive silicone tails. As a Florida-born pisces, I love all of these things, so naturally, I was on board.
MerPeople’s opening scene is designed to shatter that illusion, as a group of mer-performers rises from the water in agony. The pool was over-chlorinated, so now all of their eyes are burning. It’s a mad dash to the sinks, as the distressed merpeople moan and wail. The opposite of a dress-up dream, professional mermaiding looks like an aquatic nightmare. It involves swimming in freezing-cold tanks, sometimes with live rays and ‘nippy’ pufferfish. You could get hypothermia, and assholes will apparently hit on you all the time. Also, everything (absolutely everything) gets sweaty under that tail.”
See: Queen of the Universe Season 2
Queen of the Universe Season 2 brings another batch of singing drag performers to the stage for high-concept performance and cutthroat judging, making for a delightful return to the breezy summer television we’ve been craving.
Here’s Coleman Spilde’s take:
“I’ve had a running list of potential drag names, which has been living within the notes app on my phone since 2016, just in case I were ever called to arms and needed to pick up a makeup sponge. I’ll save some for myself, should that day ever come. But you can have a few of the rejects: There’s Kay Y, a twist on the popular lubricant brand; NailMe Watts, a suggestive play on one of David Lynch’s muses; and, of course, Dame Dooti Stench, an absolutely vile degradation of a beloved, be-damed actress.
There are a few on that list that aren’t puns, thought up during the most low-level riffing with friends. But I have such a deep affinity for a really good, clever pun that most of mine are joke-based. So imagine my shock, awe, delight, and seething jealousy when I met Militia Scunt, a queen in the batch of contestants in Queen of the Universe Season 2, premiering on Paramount+ June 2.”
Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now.
Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now.
