Film
Introducing Anika Williams-Hewitt, a new member of the team joining us from Kitchener, Ontario! Look out for more of her coverage very soon – in the meantime, enjoy the Canadian perspective!
Does love really conquer all? Is it selfish or realistic to consider money and stability when deciding who to date? These are questions that Materialists asks of us all.
Celine Song (writer/director of Past Lives) writes and directs her sophomore feature film Materialists exploring yet another love triangle. This love triangle is centred around Lucy (Dakota Johnson), a New York City matchmaker who sees matchmaking as a business deal. The other sides of this triangle consist of Harry (Pedro Pascal), the wealthy, suave “unicorn” (i.e. an absolute catch), and John (Chris Evans) the broke artist ex and hopeless romantic. What ensues is an exploration of whether love is enough, how we assess “value” in dating, and an unexpectedly deep dive into the world of matchmaking.
As a self-proclaimed Pedro Pascal fan, I went into watching Materialists with very high hopes (I know, rookie mistake!) and was very mixed as the credits rolled. On one hand, the film was beautifully shot and I was surprisingly most intrigued by the ins and outs of Lucy’s matchmaking world. The soundtrack was beautiful (Japanese Breakfast’s, My Baby [Got Nothing At All] is now in my regular rotation). On the other hand, I felt that the characters of Harry and John (and their relationships with Lucy) were underdeveloped. The romantic beats felt unearned and had nothing new to say about modern dating. I hoped for more.
However, despite my mixed opinions on the film, I have definitely been thinking about it for weeks. If you’re looking for something that inspires you to reflect on your modern dating opinions and is generally a good time, then Materialists might be worth exploring. If you’re looking for the quintessential rom-com of the modern era, then you might want to look elsewhere.
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