Past Lives (2023)
Drama, Romance
The Kernel take
A 94 Metascore ("Universal Acclaim", 98% positive across 52 reviews) sits alongside a modest $12M budget (marketing spend wasn't disclosed) — the film's $42.7M worldwide gross is still roughly 3.6x the budget alone, a strong result for a specialty two-hander with essentially no genre hook.
Director track record: Celine Song
Past Lives' 94 towers over Celine Song's only other credit here, Materialists (70) — a remarkably strong feature debut, 24 points clear of her follow-up.
Lead track record: Greta Lee
Past Lives' 94 is well above Greta Lee's 63.8-point average across these roles — her highest-scored credit in this list, ahead of both Spider-Verse films (87 and 86).
Box office
Budget $12M · Box office $42.7M
Past Lives also expanded rather than opened wide — gross rose 125% in week two as the film moved into more theaters, and its 48.8x domestic multiplier reflects a long, slow platform rollout typical of specialty distribution rather than one big first weekend.