2024 OSCARS: Past Lives (2023) - Voice Over in a Setup for Later Payoff

[Quick Summary: Nora, who left S. Korea as a child, reconnects twenty years later with Hae Sung, her childhood friend.]

I loved this script because it evoked such poignant emotions of love lost and found.

In several interviews, the writer/playwright Celine Song, mentioned that this is also about the characters' younger selves getting to say the goodbye that they hadn't had.

I liked how she set up that goodbye payoff with an earlier setup, in the scene below.

We can see that the two characters still have an unresolved connection because the voice over bridges them, despite the distance of space and time:

EXT. BARN HOUSE PICNIC TABLE - NIGHT - SOMETIME THAT SUMMER

The artists are all a little tipsy with empty bottles of wine and beer -- the evidence of a good night out --splayed out all over the table.

They listen to slightly-drunk Nora with varying degrees of interest:

NORA: There is a word in Korean: In-Yun. It means providence or fate, about it's specifically about relationships between people.

Nora's voice over plays out over the following silent scenes of Hae Sung in Shanghai:

INT. PLANE TO SHANGHAI - MORNING

Hae Sung is on a flight to Shanghai.

NORA (V.O.): I think it comes from Buddhism and reincarnation.

INT. SHANGHAI DORM ROOM - DUSK

Hae Sung is sleeping in his new dorm room. It is small and crappy, but the view of Shanghai is magnificent. 

On the bed is an information package about his language exchange program in both Korean and Mandarin with things like class schedule and local restaurant recommendations.

NORA (V.O.): It's an In-Yun if two strangers even walk by each other in the street and their clothes accidentally brush -  

EXT. SHANGHAI NIGHT MARKET - NIGHT

Hae Sung and the other language exchange students walk around the fish market on a group outing. Steam emanates from the food stalls, and it is full of late-night lovers.

It smells pungent and looks gorgeous.

There is a very cute GIRL (Korean, fellow language exchange student, 20) in the group who keeps glancing at Hae Sung.

Hae Sung doesn't notice.

Hae Sung lights up a cigarette, and offers one to his fellow students, who eagerly grab one from the pack.

NORA (V.O.): - because it means there must have been something between them in their past lives.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I liked that the voice over bridges the characters and keeps them emotionally connected, and is not merely an information dump.

Past Lives (2023)(undated)
by Celine Song

2024 OSCARS: May December (2023) - Suspense, Which Lends an Edge, Lies in Character

[Quick Summary: To portray their relationship, an actress spends time with a controversial couple (Gracie was 36 and Joe was 13 when they met).]

Q: Isn't sex with an underage minor is an icky subject matter for a feature?
A: I thought so, but this the writer did something interesting with it.  

Q: What was so interesting?
A: She added suspense, which lends an edge to the story, akin to a psychological thriller.

Q: Like waiting for the other shoe to drop?
A: Yes.  After Gracie went to jail and exited, she still married the guy. Now this actress (Elizabeth), shows up to study them, and Joe is seeing his life differently.  

Q: How do the other characters add to the suspense?
A: We never know what they're thinking or going to do next. ex. As Elizabeth starts to mimic Gracie, is she getting involved with Joe for herself or for the film? 

Q: What do you think is a key to this suspenseful edge?
A: One of the keys is the Gracie character. They all say she knows exactly what she's doing, but are we sure?

The scene below showcases Gracie, who the writer said she wrote as the "center of her universe."  In her worldview, everything is cheery, and/or ignored. 

Note the hold she has on everyone, and her obliviousness (is it?) that it affects anyone adversely.  We keep on reading to see if she really is that oblivious, or not:

INT. ATHERTON-YOO KITCHEN - DAY

...Gracie thinks about it, skeptical. Then, suddenly lightly: 

GRACIE: Alright.

Elizabeth and Joe both look relieved.

GRACIE (CONT'D): Of course I talk to Georgie. And to Billy and Cassidy. I'm their mom.

ELIZABETH: Sure...

JOE: Cassidy was just here last -- (looks at Gracie) What was it? ...And we'll see everyone at graduation...

GRACIE: The twins are in the same class as Cassidy's son Peter, my grandson. So we'll all be at graduation together, which you're welcome to come to if you're still in town.

A big smile.

GRACIE (CONT'D): Now who wants cake?

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: This script surprised me on a few fronts:
- The basis of this relationship is an unpleasant topic, but it wasn't the point of the script.
- I'd never thought to put this kind of suspenseful spin, and that it would work because it's about character.
- Going deeper into character made this script more interesting than my initial glance at the logline.

May-December (2023)(undated)
Story by Samy Burch & Alex Mechanik
Screenplay by Samy Burch

2024 OSCARS: Maestro (2023) - Music Intersecting with Action = Shows Her Impact on Him

[Quick Summary: A portrait of the up and down marriage of composer- conductor Leonard and Felicia Bernstein.]

Though well-written, I was not wildly moved by this script. 

I think it is a bit too much "slice of life" for me.  It's not exactly a biopic, but the story of a marriage between a passionate conductor and his equally vibrant wife. 

However, I did like how the writers crafted moments where Bernstein's compositions intersect with important emotional moments. 

The scene below was one of those moments:
-  The combination of music and action carry the theme of the film: Felicia's emotional impact on Lenny.
- As the first composition bursts forth through Lenny on the stage, we see how her support enables him to reach the highest emotions.
- Then with a second composition, the music breaks them apart.

INT. HOUSE/STAGE, ALDEPHI THEATER, NEW YORK - NIGHT

He smiles at her. A smile that'd make another woman blush. Felicia pulls back up against her seat to watch the ballet. We've jumped later in the piece to Fancy Free: VI. Three Dance Variations, Variation III (Danzon) and one of the sailors is dancing solo, like a serenade for the other two sailors. We PUSH IN on the dancer; the movements are sensual.

And we see the sailor is not LB himself, through Felicia's eyes, lost in his own movements, the eroticism of it all, titillating both to himself and his audience. We see this land on Felicia's face, this recognition of this complicated man.

On stage, LB moves through the end of the Variation, closer and closer to Felicia. First coming up to the barstool, drumming on his knee. Then standing on top of one, pounding on his chest, gorilla style, declaring his art form and then leaping up, landing almost in front of her as the music stops. 

Felicia shoots up from her chair and claps energetically for LB breaking free and expressing himself fully. LB beams, and moves right toward her, and they embrace and kiss.  [I thought this was great descriptive writing:"breaking free and expressing himself."]

We go into the kiss, close on them, the passion of their embrace as the top stage lights fair and BAM!!!

We hear the horn wail that marks the beginning of On the Town: Act 1: Opening: New York, New York. This breaks them apart.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I think this scene, with only music and action, may have been the best way of explaining the unexplainable impact Felicia had on Lenny.

Maestro (2023)(undated)
by Bradley Cooper & Josh Singer

2024 OSCARS: The Holdovers (2023) - When a Juxtaposed Sound Is Ironic

[Quick Summary: A cranky teacher, a grieving cook, and sullen student stay at a 1970s boarding school over Christmas break.]

I liked this script much more than I thought.

I think it's due to the unexpected combinations of humor and humanity.

I particularly liked the scene below in which Mary, the cook, pours out her heart. It's especially poignant because of the two moments of irony (see comments): 

INT. KITCHEN STAFF COMMON ROOM - CONTINUOUS

...MARY: I took this job when Curtis was little, so he could get a good education. You know, he flourished here.

PAUL: He was a great kid. I had him one semester. Very insightful.

MARY: Uh-huh. He hated you. He said you were a real asshole.

PAUL: Well, like I said, sharp kid. Insightful. [This is one of my favorite ironic lines. She was blunt, and he appreciated the truth.]

MARY: He had his heart set on Swarthmore, and he had the grades, but I didn't have the money. Even with financial aid it wasn't enough. So when he got called up, no student deferment, off he went. You know what he said to me? He said: "Hey ma, look at the upside. When I get discharged, I can go to college on the GI Bill." College. (keeping it together) And here we are. With my Curtis in the cold ground, and those boys safe and warm in their beds. It's like you said. "Life is like a henhouse ladder." That's right -- I can hear everything you're saying from the kitchen. Especially that little Kountze kid. Crown prince of all the little assholes.

Silence, which is broken by APPLAUSE from the studio audience. [This juxtaposed sound afterwards is so wonderfully ironic. It's an audible contrast to what she's just said (mourning vs. happy). Also, it encapsulated my visceral reaction to her words: bittersweet, funny.]

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: This is a sharply observed story about coping with sadness, which might've been too depressing, if not for its unusual ways to insert irony.

The Holdovers (2023)(undated)
by David Hemington