There’s a Conspicuous Absence Among ‘Past Lives’ Well-Deserved Oscar Nominations

The 2024 Academy Award nominations arrived this morning, and while it was a great turnout, there are still nominations we wish we would have gotten. One of them is a Best Director Oscar nomination for Celine Song for her work on the movie Past Lives.

Song did get the nomination for Best Original Screenplay, which is incredible, but part of the beauty of Past Lives is tied to her direction. The movie itself got a few nominations (not any in the acting categories, which is wrong), including Best Picture. All that to say that this falls into a trend with the Academy where a woman can be nominated in Best Picture and other categories but ends up being denied the Best Director nomination.

What we love about Past Lives is obviously connected to the performances. Greta Lee’s brilliance as Nora is what makes the final moments so heartbreaking. Teo Yoo as Hae Sung makes us understand why Nora has been connected to him through all these years. And then watching as John Magaro as Arthur has to sit and watch as Hae Sung and Nora reconnect hurts for his sake. All of this makes Past Lives so heartbreaking, but it all goes back to Song’s work with the script and her direction.

What I never understand about the Oscar nominations is how we can award people (typically women) other categories but we cannot seem to figure out how to also give them the nomination for directing. The only woman this year who both wrote her screenplay and nabbed a nomination in directing was Justine Triet for Anatomy of a Fall (and rightfully so), but why isn’t that also awarded to creatives like Celine Song?

I hope that we see a win for Song in the Best Original Screenplay category, and it is nice that she, after her first film, has the label of at least “Academy Award nominee” attached to her name. I just wish her direction was also recognized.

(featured image: A24)