Past Lives and critics' choices

     Teo Yoo and Greta Lee in "Past Lives." Photo via IMDB.com

Its intentions are more modest and perhaps more pure than some of the epics it's pitted against, but watch for “Past Lives” when the Oscar nominations are announced tomorrow.

After being in the running for Golden Globes, its star Greta Lee was just named Best Actress by the Hawaii Film Critics Society, and writer-director Celine Song won in the group's Original Screenplay and Best New Filmmaker categories.

Hollywood likes to display its fondness for Asian perspectives on American culture at Oscar time. Chloé Zhao's “Nomadland” won three of the awards including Best Picture in 2020. Last year “Everything Everywhere All At Once” brought home seven more of the little gold guys, sweeping most of the major categories.

“Past Lives” can't match “Everything Everywhere's” great, one-size-fits-all title, but it does have an equally cosmic guiding principle. It's In-Yun, an ancient Korean Buddhist concept that Google sums up as “the connection, fate or destiny of two people.” 

The two people are Na Young and Hae Sung, who know from their first encounter as children in Korea that they are soulmates, bound to be married and spend their lives together. According to this understanding of reincarnation, even the brush of a stranger on a sidewalk could have been preordained generations ago.

The perfect plan is disrupted, however, when Na Young's family immigrates, first to Canada, then to the United States, where the girl's father can pursue his career as a media artist. His daughter, who changes her name to Nora for her new life, already has artistic ambitions of her own, planning to win a Nobel Prize for writing.

Despite the forced separation that extends over the next two decades, the In-Yun bond is unbreakable. After years of being out of touch, Nora and Hae Sung find each other again. In today's vast world, none of us are more than a few keystrokes apart, and computer screens become the medium for the pair to share their ever deepening feelings.

“Past Lives” opens with three people sitting at a New York bar: Nora (Greta Lee), Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), and a Caucasian man (John Magaro). A man observing them in voice-over wonders what their relationship might be. A Korean husband and wife visiting an American friend? A brother and sister? But who's the white guy?

Actress Lee, with a an amazing array of facial expressions and words to probe her deepest feelings, stands in for writer-director Song in an obviously autobiographical exploration of her identity, not as a Korean-American but as Korean and American. 

Nora's long-distance relationship with Hae Sung is a more soulful variation on the “Sleepless in Seattle” theme, while her bond with white mystery man brings more nuance and depth to usual screen treatments of romance.

“Past Lives” is very much an I-Am-Here announcement of the arrival of a wise and talented filmmaker. For all the understanding and intuition she brings to relationships between men and women, Celine Song surrounds her characters with subtly gorgeous cinematography, including spectacularly lit New York cityscapes. 

Hers is a tender story of three smart, vulnerable people, a refreshing, thought-provoking and touching look at love on many levels, and a welcome alternative to typical Hollywood endings.

Speaking of Hollywood and awards, as mentioned above, the Hawaii Film Critics Society recently posted our best-of-the-year list, nicely nestled between the Golden Globes and the Academy Award nominations. 

HFCS head Barry Wurst keeps me on the membership list (thankyaveramuch!), and I pay my dues by writing these reviews each awards season. It remains an honor and delight to be part of the Society despite being continually reminded of the distance, alphabetically and otherwise, between being a baby boomer and a part of whatever generation X, Y or Z most of the other members belong to. My votes usually diverge from the group's tally, but we're closer this time than we've been in years.

Here's the list:

BEST PICTURE: “Barbie”

BEST DIRECTOR: Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer”

BEST ACTOR: Cillian Murphy, “Oppenheimer”

BEST ACTRESS: Greta Lee, “Past Lives”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Ryan Gosling, “Barbie”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Da’Vine Joy Randolph, “The Holdovers”

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Celine Song, “Past Lives”

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Christopher Nolan (based on the book “American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer” by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin), “Oppenheimer”

BEST ART DIRECTION: Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer, “Barbie” 

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Holly Waddington, “Poor Things”

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Erik Messerschmidt, ASC, “Ferrari”

BEST EDITING: Jennifer Lame, “Oppenheimer”

BEST ANIMATED FILM: “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” (dir. Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson)

BEST DOCUMENTARY: “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” (dir. Davis Guggenheim)

BEST MAKE-UP: Nadia Stacey, “Poor Things” 

BEST SOUND: “Ferrari”

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Ludwig Göransson, “Oppenheimer” 

BEST SONG: “What Was I Made For?” “Barbie”

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: “The Creator” 

BEST STUNT WORK: “John Wick: Chapter 4” 

BEST NEW FILMMAKER: Celine Song, “Past Lives”

BEST FIRST FILM: “American Fiction” (dir. Cord Jefferson)

BEST OVERLOOKED FILM: “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret.” (dir. Kelly Fremon Craig)

BEST VOCAL/MOTION CAPTURE PERFORMANCE: Jason Schwartzman, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”

BEST HORROR FILM: “Talk to Me” (dir. Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou)

BEST COMIC BOOK MOVIE: “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” (dir. Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson)

BEST SCI-FI FILM: “Godzilla Minus One” (dir. Takashi Yamazaki)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: “Anatomy of a Fall” (dir. Justin Triet) (France) 

BEST HAWAIIAN FILM: “Growing Up Local” (dir. James Sereno)

WORST FILM OF 2023: “80 for Brady” (dir. Kyle Marvin)