Please note: The screening of Materialists on Sunday, July 20 at 12:30 pm will be presented with on-screen captions.
“For the follow-up to her Oscar-nominated debut Past Lives, writer-director Celine Song again uses a romantic triangle to explore the mysteries of attraction — and the eternal battle between the head and the heart. Materialists is set in New York, an obscenely expensive city where money dominates nearly every aspect of life. In this world, Lucy (Dakota Johnson) works for a matchmaking company whose wealthy, picky clients expect to be set up with their perfect partner. She is excellent at her job — nine of her clients have gone on to get married — and she believes in love, although she is exceedingly practical about the factors that impact compatibility, such as how much money prospective dates earn.
At a wedding for one client, she meets Harry (Pedro Pascal), who she judges to be a ‘unicorn’: matchmaker terminology that means he’s the ideal package for any woman. But Harry doesn’t want to hire Lucy — he wants to date her. Just then, Lucy also runs into John (Chris Evans), a former boyfriend who is part of the wedding’s catering team, a dead-end job he needs to support himself while trying to keep his floundering acting career afloat.
Song continues to demonstrate a knack for nuanced characters and naturalistic, thoughtful dialogue. Teaming up with her Past Lives cinematographer Shabier Kirchner, she captures a lavish upper-crust New York, as well as the less well-heeled neighbourhoods inhabited by struggling artists such as John. On its surface, Materialists tackles familiar romantic-comedy debates — contentment versus passion, money versus happiness — but Song approaches these themes with a frankness that makes them feel fresh.” – Tim Grierson, Screen Daily
