Were you, like much of the rest of the world, utterly devastated by Past Lives, Celine Song’s sublime feature debut starring the wonderful Greta Lee, Teo Yoo and John Magaro? Then brace yourself for another poetically shot romance centred on a thrillingly knotty love triangle, as conceived by the playwright-turned-Oscar-nominated filmmaker, this time featuring an even starrier trio: the always deliciously deadpan Madame Web herself, Dakota Johnson; forever zaddy Pedro Pascal, soon to be seen in the second season of The Last of Us; and our chiselled Captain America and Knives Out’s wearer of covetable Aran knits, Chris Evans.
Titled Materialists, their new crowdpleaser has a deceptively simple log line: “A young, ambitious New York City matchmaker finds herself torn between the perfect match and her imperfect ex.” Johnson is, of course, the matchmaker; Pascal is, naturally, her perfect match; and Evans her slightly rougher-around-the-edges former partner. So far, so Hitch—though, with Song at the helm there will, undoubtedly, be much more to it than that.
The first trailer for Materialists, which dropped on 18 March, gives us a glimpse of that: yes, it lays out the stakes similarly to many other classic rom-coms—she’s a successful professional who’s the “eternal bachelorette”, having neglected her own love life in supporting the romances of others, and now has to choose between the ideal-on-paper prospect and the messier option from her past—complete with fairly standard needle drops (a remix of Madonna’s ‘Material Girl’—what else?).
But, there’s also the soft, sun-dappled and ravishingly beautiful way in which Song films New York City; the quiet, simmering chemistry between Johnson and her two love interests; and the profound sense of heartbreak that begins to spill over at the end, colouring everything else that’s come before it. All of these things suggest that this will be a worthy successor to Past Lives, cementing Song’s reputation as the ultimate chronicler of complicated, tear-jerking modern romances.
So does the stellar (and eclectic!) supporting cast: Succession’s Zoë Winters and Dasha Nekrasova; The Gilded Age’s Louisa Jacobson; Eileen scene stealer Marin Ireland; nepo baby Sawyer Spielberg (Masters of the Air, Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point); Rachel’s assistant Tag in Friends, Eddie Cahill; and Euphoria’s Fernando Belo.
Look out for the A24 release in cinemas from 13 June—and keep your tissues handy.
This article was originally published on British Vogue.
