Consultando después de poblar en Mongoose

N.B El uso de async aquí es solo por la brevedad de ejecutar el ejemplo adjunto. La implementación real está libre de esta dependencia.

const async = require('async'),
      mongoose = require('mongoose'),
      Schema = mongoose.Schema;

mongoose.Promise = global.Promise;
mongoose.set('debug', true);
mongoose.connect('mongodb://localhost/looktest');

const itemTagSchema = new Schema({
  tagName: String
});

const itemSchema = new Schema({
  dateCreated: { type: Date, default: Date.now },
  title: String,
  description: String,
  tags: [{ type: Schema.Types.ObjectId, ref: 'ItemTag' }]
});

itemSchema.statics.lookup = function(opt,callback) {
  let rel =
    mongoose.model(this.schema.path(opt.path).caster.options.ref);

  let group = { "$group": { } };
  this.schema.eachPath(p =>
    group.$group[p] = (p === "_id") ? "$_id" :
      (p === opt.path) ? { "$push": `$${p}` } : { "$first": `$${p}` });

  let pipeline = [
    { "$lookup": {
      "from": rel.collection.name,
      "as": opt.path,
      "localField": opt.path,
      "foreignField": "_id"
    }},
    { "$unwind": `$${opt.path}` },
    { "$match": opt.query },
    group
  ];

  this.aggregate(pipeline,(err,result) => {
    if (err) callback(err);
    result = result.map(m => {
      m[opt.path] = m[opt.path].map(r => rel(r));
      return this(m);
    });
    callback(err,result);
  });
}

const Item = mongoose.model('Item', itemSchema);
const ItemTag = mongoose.model('ItemTag', itemTagSchema);

function log(body) {
  console.log(JSON.stringify(body, undefined, 2))
}
async.series(
  [
    // Clean data
    (callback) => async.each(mongoose.models,(model,callback) =>
      model.remove({},callback),callback),

    // Create tags and items
    (callback) =>
      async.waterfall(
        [
          (callback) =>
            ItemTag.create([{ "tagName": "movies" }, { "tagName": "funny" }],
              callback),

          (tags, callback) =>
            Item.create({ "title": "Something","description": "An item",
              "tags": tags },callback)
        ],
        callback
      ),

    // Query with our static
    (callback) =>
      Item.lookup(
        {
          path: 'tags',
          query: { 'tags.tagName' : { '$in': [ 'funny', 'politics' ] } }
        },
        callback
      )
  ],
  (err,results) => {
    if (err) throw err;
    let result = results.pop();
    log(result);
    mongoose.disconnect();
  }
)

O un poco más moderno para Node 8.x y superior con async/await y sin dependencias adicionales:

const { Schema } = mongoose = require('mongoose');
const uri = 'mongodb://localhost/looktest';

mongoose.Promise = global.Promise;
mongoose.set('debug', true);

const itemTagSchema = new Schema({
  tagName: String
});

const itemSchema = new Schema({
  dateCreated: { type: Date, default: Date.now },
  title: String,
  description: String,
  tags: [{ type: Schema.Types.ObjectId, ref: 'ItemTag' }]
});

itemSchema.statics.lookup = function(opt) {
  let rel =
    mongoose.model(this.schema.path(opt.path).caster.options.ref);

  let group = { "$group": { } };
  this.schema.eachPath(p =>
    group.$group[p] = (p === "_id") ? "$_id" :
      (p === opt.path) ? { "$push": `$${p}` } : { "$first": `$${p}` });

  let pipeline = [
    { "$lookup": {
      "from": rel.collection.name,
      "as": opt.path,
      "localField": opt.path,
      "foreignField": "_id"
    }},
    { "$unwind": `$${opt.path}` },
    { "$match": opt.query },
    group
  ];

  return this.aggregate(pipeline).exec().then(r => r.map(m => 
    this({ ...m, [opt.path]: m[opt.path].map(r => rel(r)) })
  ));
}

const Item = mongoose.model('Item', itemSchema);
const ItemTag = mongoose.model('ItemTag', itemTagSchema);

const log = body => console.log(JSON.stringify(body, undefined, 2));

(async function() {
  try {

    const conn = await mongoose.connect(uri);

    // Clean data
    await Promise.all(Object.entries(conn.models).map(([k,m]) => m.remove()));

    // Create tags and items
    const tags = await ItemTag.create(
      ["movies", "funny"].map(tagName =>({ tagName }))
    );
    const item = await Item.create({ 
      "title": "Something",
      "description": "An item",
      tags 
    });

    // Query with our static
    const result = (await Item.lookup({
      path: 'tags',
      query: { 'tags.tagName' : { '$in': [ 'funny', 'politics' ] } }
    })).pop();
    log(result);

    mongoose.disconnect();

  } catch (e) {
    console.error(e);
  } finally {
    process.exit()
  }
})()

Y desde MongoDB 3.6 y superior, incluso sin el $unwind y $group edificio:

const { Schema, Types: { ObjectId } } = mongoose = require('mongoose');

const uri = 'mongodb://localhost/looktest';

mongoose.Promise = global.Promise;
mongoose.set('debug', true);

const itemTagSchema = new Schema({
  tagName: String
});

const itemSchema = new Schema({
  title: String,
  description: String,
  tags: [{ type: Schema.Types.ObjectId, ref: 'ItemTag' }]
},{ timestamps: true });

itemSchema.statics.lookup = function({ path, query }) {
  let rel =
    mongoose.model(this.schema.path(path).caster.options.ref);

  // MongoDB 3.6 and up $lookup with sub-pipeline
  let pipeline = [
    { "$lookup": {
      "from": rel.collection.name,
      "as": path,
      "let": { [path]: `$${path}` },
      "pipeline": [
        { "$match": {
          ...query,
          "$expr": { "$in": [ "$_id", `$$${path}` ] }
        }}
      ]
    }}
  ];

  return this.aggregate(pipeline).exec().then(r => r.map(m =>
    this({ ...m, [path]: m[path].map(r => rel(r)) })
  ));
};

const Item = mongoose.model('Item', itemSchema);
const ItemTag = mongoose.model('ItemTag', itemTagSchema);

const log = body => console.log(JSON.stringify(body, undefined, 2));

(async function() {

  try {

    const conn = await mongoose.connect(uri);

    // Clean data
    await Promise.all(Object.entries(conn.models).map(([k,m]) => m.remove()));

    // Create tags and items
    const tags = await ItemTag.insertMany(
      ["movies", "funny"].map(tagName => ({ tagName }))
    );

    const item = await Item.create({
      "title": "Something",
      "description": "An item",
      tags
    });

    // Query with our static
    let result = (await Item.lookup({
      path: 'tags',
      query: { 'tagName': { '$in': [ 'funny', 'politics' ] } }
    })).pop();
    log(result);


    await mongoose.disconnect();

  } catch(e) {
    console.error(e)
  } finally {
    process.exit()
  }

})()