Critical Eye
GNOME CINEMA
CANADIAN-Korean Celine Song had been a relatively undistinguished Broadway playwright until 2023, when she made her acclaimed debut
Past Lives,
a film so fine it could restore your faith in broadsheet best-of-the-year-polls.
Two years later, her follow-up, Materialists, arrives in cinemas and leaves you wondering how she pulled the wool over our eyes with Past Lives. Having got her foot in the door with a low-budget, partly subtitled drama, for her second writer-director effort she’s traded up, drafting in three Hollywood stars for a New York romcom set in a dating agency for high-net worth individuals. Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is a master matchmaker, the star of her agency and celebrating her ninth pairing making it to matrimony. At their nuptials, she is pursued by the groom’s brother, millionaire financier Harry (Pedro Pascal) while reconnecting with her ex, John (Chris Evans), a struggling actor working for the caterers.