'Materialists' review: Celine Song makes an endearing romantic drama for the cynical and overthinking ones among us

Dakota Johnson's character Lucy, a matchmaker, treats everyone like a commodity. One client, after a traumatising incident during a date set up by her, even says this to her face. "Merchandise" is the word she throws at her. For Lucy, everything is... Math. She functions the same way a Wall Street broker does. Numbers, figures, parameters. She sells illusions to people, and she seems to have somehow managed to be trapped in an illusion of her own making — the kind that people who pass themselves off as 'practical' like to believe in. Every client has demands and expectations, some of them extremely unrealistic. A man in his late 40s thinks he would feel threatened or possibly, weakened, by someone in his age group. You would think Lucy is being looked at as a pimp. (That's another word the traumatised client throws at her.)

Celine Song, in her second film, pokes fun at everyone with unrealistic expectations, regardless of gender. In doing so, she makes us laugh because we are also laughing at some part of ourselves that once nursed an exaggerated picture of ourselves in our minds — and probably still does. (If that's the case, would we still laugh at these scenes?) These laughs, I imagine, also come with the awareness that a lot of people would utter some of these things aloud in a public space if not for members of the PC brigade hiding in every nook and corner.

Materialists arrives at a time when many of us single folks have turned skeptical about the whole dating game and, of course, bitter experiences in love. It also comes at a time when romantic dramas (or romantic comedies, for that matter) no longer hold the same appeal as they did when some of us were much younger, save for a few mature exceptions like Richard Linklater's 'Before' trilogy. And with a film like this, I think it's necessary to bring the age factor into the discussion since I'm curious how someone in their early/late 20s would respond to this film, unlike someone in their early/late 30s. As a single man in his late 30s, I found a lot in Materialists that strongly resonated with me. (Of course, for personal reasons, I don't intend to divulge which areas did what to me.)  

To put it simply, there are many lines, whether from a male or female character, that made me nod in agreement. This is a film that strongly spoke to me because it addresses some concerns in a way that makes the whole scenario seem as though everyone is going through a "lonely hearts" epidemic. Any longtime single folks who stumbled on relationship-related posts/reels on Instagram will know how often they've seen thirty-somethings or forty-somethings writing comments about their loneliness, or how they've become hopeless and given up trying to find love, or how they've become more comfortable with the idea of being with themselves. And for the last category, I sometimes wonder if they don't really go through every day thinking even for a second whether they would feel a lot happier if they found someone to share their life with.

I wondered this about Lucy. Does this matchmaker not believe in pure love at all? Is it all calculations for her? This gorgeous woman who has the personality of a movie star — which makes sense in this character's case, given how she reveals she once considered acting as a career — has been telling every client that "Marriage is a business deal" and that people have been doing so since the beginning of time. When someone sitting next to me in the theatre silently uttered, "WTF!" at this line in disbelief, I knew Lucy was going to repel a lot of people. I knew this movie would probably get dismissed for being "unlikeable" and having "shallow" characters. (I'm seeing such comments online already.)

Yes, that's going to be the first reaction when seeing someone like Lucy, but what's wrong about making a movie where characters don't make apologies about their preferences? Lucy hates being broke and being with a broke man — a reason for her breaking up with John, a 37-year-old waiter/aspiring actor (Chris Evans), revealed in a flashback.

Celine Song's filmmaking approach, on first viewing, bears some of the notable qualities found in the best of Taiwanese and Japanese cinema. If you're a huge fan of the films of, say, Edward Yang and Yasujiro Ozu, you'll find Materialists sharing some commonalities. For instance, Materialists has scenes that recall Yang's 2000 film Yi Yi, which, like this film, begins at a wedding and features two characters who could've ended up with each other, reconnecting after ages. And an Ozu fan would instantly draw parallels to the moments where Lucy is talking to her clients who are positioned in such a way that they describe their requirements to the camera. (The joke about the way Ozu shot his actors in a conversation scene is that they may not necessarily be looking at each other while "talking to" each other.)

Materialists also recalled some of the mature 1980s rom-coms such as Working Girl, where all the main characters were in the 30s-40s age range — the kind of rom-com where the characters, regardless of being likeable or unlikeable, got the best-written lines and were driven, ambitious folks who have been through bitter experiences and are now sure of exactly what they want.

But what about Lucy? Does she really know what she wants? She wants to be valued but how much value does she give her clients? Does she really know that Harry (Pedro Pascal), the dashing billionaire that she just met, is the right person for her? Some of the best scenes in the film are the Lucy-Harry portions because, like in the case of Working Girl, they are treated with the same seriousness as the Lucy-John scenes. Celine and her cinematographer Shabier Kirchner, who also shot her excellent debut feature Past Lives, staged these scenes with the same austere approach that characterised the best dramas from Yang or Ozu.

Stillness, I feel, is a very essential quality in relationship dramas. That said, a stationary camera is not always the right approach, and Celine knows very well that sometimes a moving, nervous camera is suitable for capturing a chaotic, disordered lifestyle such as John's. Harry's scenes, on the other hand, are suitably handled with the utmost sophistication and grace.

Materialists opens in a manner that makes it seem as though finding love is the most difficult, complicated thing ever. However, these early situations are infused with so much humour, and what's most admirable about the way they are written and staged is the subtlety of it all — a rarity in this day and age where some filmmakers think you cannot make a rom-com without a loud, hyper character who probably gets high and drunk a lot and spouts some ridiculous things to sound funny. (And don't get me started on most Indian mainstream romantic movies which invariably feature a guy with a guitar or a guy taking his girlfriend for a bike ride or the two pointing to the distance.)

Celine doesn't resort to such oft-repeated clichés, and it's one of the reasons why I found Materialists exceptional — stronger, emotionally more resonant than Past Lives, although the intentions differ. Materialists gives off the impression that it doesn't believe in love — just like Lucy — but then tells you that genuine love doesn't involve any ridiculous parameters or unrealistic expectations. That it's incredibly... easy. That it would probably get better if you don't overthink too much. That being "practical" might work for some, but not all. (How many clients that Lucy helped get married do you think are genuinely happy?) That, sometimes, all that is required to improve a relationship is for one person to upgrade and another to downgrade... just a bit. 

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