Materialists

 

This review may contain spoilers!

Materialists is a romantic-comedy following Lucy, a New York matchmaker who starts a relationship with a wealthy man through her job. However, when she reconnects with John, her struggling actor ex-boyfriend, she has to decide between financial stability and love.

What I really enjoyed about the latest film from Celine Song is the message clearly presented throughout. The deep criticism of modern dating and the commodification of finding your 'soulmate' is such an interesting premise. This film features several sequences in which a character rattles off very specific traits they desire in a partner, often developing an outlandish idea of the perfect partner. This is countered neatly by Lucy criticising the vanity and narcissism on display before her, often doing her best to wrangle her clients' expectations. There is always an underpinning point that emotional connection matters the least in the dating scene; it often boils down to looks, career, status and wealth. When this film shatters Lucy's 'perfect' world of pairing opulent partners together by exposing the dangers of blind matching people, the film really takes an intensive turn. Lucy is confronted with the fact that, though people have good-looking attributes on paper, there is still a danger to personal safety in the world of dating, no matter how luxurious the service. Watching Lucy face a client undergoing something traumatic and then absorb the guilt from that to grow as a person is one of the finer narrative points of this film.

The sophisticated visual style of Materialists is probably its winning feature. This is a film destined to be beautiful, with shots that are exquisitely framed and that do well at holding on to lingering moments of artistic decadence. I quite liked the soundtrack for this film; it had an almost rustic indie feel that also evoked a gentle love for New York City, rough edges and all.

Dakota Johnson, who played Lucy, is in one of the better roles I have seen her portray; Johnson's sense of self and how that changes between the men she dates, her work and the trauma she experiences makes for an emotionally compelling watch. Zoe Winters, who played Sophie, almost steals this entire film out from under the leading stars; Winters' raw emotion when she is confronted by Johnson is undeniably the best scene of the film. Dasha Nekrasova, who played Daisy, had some good dialogue exchanges with Johnson; Nekrasova's work friend character really painted the perfect illusion that the matchmakers lived within well. Louisa Jacobson, who played Charlotte, gave a pretty classic rendition of the 'cold-footed' bride; though I found Jacobson's role being coerced back to the relationship by the promise of status and money to be very sobering.

However, the best performance came from Chris Evans, who played John. In any other romantic-comedy, John would be the rough ex from the good old days who has a heart of gold deep down. However, what I liked about John in this is that he can be this constant rock to Lucy, while also making mistakes or not reading the room every time. He's not perfect, but he wants to be a good person for this woman that he cares about. Evans develops a man who is living a poor life well; he hasn't lost sight of his dreams and what he wants. But within the events of the movie, he also learns to grow and show some appetite for life, a drive to progress and show effort in his relationship. I found Evans and Johnson's portrayal of a relationship the most strikingly honest; they are so frank and sincere with one another that they almost crash and burn while sharing a warm smile. Yet, at every turn, this film proved that their immediate chemistry and Evans' phenomenal portrayal of longing made this leading man one worth watching.

This film really held a beautiful message, but I couldn't help but feel my teeth grinding against one another at times. Why, you might ask? Simply put, this film fails to make me feel like I was watching real people. The characters in this are so asinine, sultry and living in an easy-going diamond world that it gets hard to connect with as an average moviegoer. The concept of what a working-class relationship is like versus a more material one often presents a bit ludicrously, and the way the main character splits hairs between them makes her extremely hard to like come the end of the feature. This issue is also presented within the dialogue used throughout the film. No one really sounded like an authentic person; everyone was rattling off dialogue like they were within a play. This might make sense with Celine Song's background, but it made the medium flounder here. Yet, while this film is trussing itself up to position itself as the most poignant romance film of the year, the outcome winds up feeling very predictable. Also, let's get real: the whole caveman thing was stupid.

The editing for this feature seems almost ambling, in a lazy manner. A scene can just linger a little too long with a particular shot, and transitions in general feel like a weak point. I also expected a lot more from a Daniel Pemberton score, beyond a tantalising spike in emotion when things were going wrong, but there's nothing much to write home about.

Pedro Pascal, who played Harry, really just feels like he's here because his name brings a crowd; Pascal's range is not present at all, and he strikes me as emotionless. Marin Ireland, who played Violet, could really do with better control over her facial expressions; watching Ireland's whole head act a different way from how her voice was delivering a line weirded me out.

Despite a decent message and some impressive visuals, I couldn't help but find Materialists to be a little conceited. I would give Materialists a 6.5/10.