Materialists

A different and lovely take on romance

Celine Song has made films that show you that love is a real thing and not something looked at clinically and practically. She has come to a point as a filmmaker where her vision of modern romance is not only very accurate but also very real. If you haven’t seen Past Lives yet, you need to watch it ASAP.

Lucy, played by Dakota Johnson, is a successful matchmaker in New York. She gets through to people and finds out what works and doesn’t work and sets them up. She has her 9th successful pairing, which has resulted in a marriage.

She decides to go to the wedding of the 9th pairing and mingles with single women so that she can hand them her business card. At the wedding, she meets Harry, the brother of the groom, played by Pedro Pascal, and they both hit it off. At some point in the evening, she meets her ex-boyfriend, John, played by Chris Evans, who is part-time as a waiter at the venue.

They meet later in the back, raising some long-lost feelings they have for each other. John drops Lucy home and tells her that he’s acting in a play soon and that she should come for the premiere. Meanwhile, she starts meeting Harry, and they get involved with each other, although she tells Harry that they aren’t meant to be with each other as they are completely different, and from her experience as a matchmaker, she knows what works and what doesn’t. Harry disagrees and assures her that he wants to be with her and he’s not just going through this on a whim.

This film is not a typical will-they-won’t-they type of love story. It’s also something that can be depicted as very true to the heart and raises questions like is your first love maybe the one you’re always supposed to be with? Is love the comfort of knowing someone for years because your heart always feels good when you’re around them? Is there a place in the heart for someone new and different? Maybe the song “All You Need Is Love” is very real or in this case, True Love is all you need.