Oscars Awards 2024 Best Picture nominee: How US-Korean drama Past Lives spoke a universal language of love
Still from Past Lives
The Academy's now well-known snub for Greta Gerwig's Barbie has been widely reported and discussed ever since the nominations for Oscars 2024 were announced in January earlier this year. While Oppenheimer and Poor Things have got major nods, fans of a little known US-Korean film Past Lives have been quietly celebrating and mourning the film's entry and snub at the Oscars.
First-time director Celine Song's heartwarming and beautifully crushing tale Past Lives has earned a spot in the Best Picture category this year among heavyweights like Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon and Poor Things. While the film's nomination in the top category has been hailed for inclusivity (something that The Academy has been adhering to for the past few years now), the film's snub in some of the other categories has also been mourned.
What is Past Lives about?
The film stars Greta Lee and Teo Yoo who play childhood sweethearts who separate when one of their families migrates to Canada and subsequently the US. The theme of the story is based on the Korean concept of inyeon where two people's lives intertwine between the past and the present.Inyeon is popularly understood to mean something like fate or destiny, referring to the ties between people over the course of their lives.The film has two childhood friends and lovers reconnecting with each other after every 12 years even as they built their lives separately in different countries. The film then beautifully highlights that even if two individuals deeply love each other they may not end up together in life.
Oscar-nominated Past Lives was inspired by immigrant experience, director says
Oscar nominations
Golden Globes, which is often considered a precursor of the Oscars, had given Past Lives nod in Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Picture – Non-English Language, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for Lee. The film did not fetch any Golden Globe but it did make fanshopeful for Lee and Song's Oscar nods.
At the Oscars, Past Lives has only managed to earn two nominations- Best Picture and Best Screenplay. Both Lee and Song have been snubbed by the jury- much to the disappointment of fans. The film, which won critical acclaim worldwide, stands a very feeble chance at this year's awards.
Will Past Lives win an Oscar?
Chances of Past Lives earning a Best Picture award is unlikely. One must remember that it has been nominated in the category where Oppenheimer features prominently. The race in this category is between Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer and Martin Scorsese's Killers of The Flower Moon - both focussing on American history. The story of an Asian immigrant and her Korean lover evidently doesn't stand a chance.
Nevertheless, Past Lives' inclusion in two major categories needs to be celebrated. Perhaps the timing of the film isn't right - but in a year where Barbie and Oppenheimer ruled box office, Past Lives created its own niche and was able to tug at heartstrings with its universal theme of love and longing.
