Movie Man Darian Watching All Night Long

Materialists

This film is one of the most emotionally honest takes on love and the complicated subject matter of relationships I have seen put to screen. Coming off the heels of their critical hit Past Lives Celine Song brings a New York story to life with these three roles played greatly by Chris Evans, Pedro Pascal and Dakota Johnson who I think gives one of her finest performances I have seen in this film. It is not a film that is designed to puff up material and be a walk along the clouds romantic film but it has a lot to say with its deep commentary on trying to find your soulmate in a time where people have become incredibly picky and judgmental and won’t settle unless they check all the boxes they have in their mind for their ideal partner. Materialists is a film that I think will become a classic of its genre while at the same time having a lot to say that will for sure spark discussion for what it has to say. 

Firstly, Right off the bat so many people have had issues with how this film was marketed as a ton of people thought it would be a love triangle between Pedro Chris and Dakota with great fun humour and be in ways like a Nora Ephron film which this is not even slightly. I can’t even confidently call it a rom com as it has not much humour in it the film is more within the genre of romance drama and that is where it lost a good amount of people. They just wanted to see a film that was like Ghost of girlfriends past or even When Harry Met Sally they didn’t think this would be a deep meditation on love which it is and it is not a fast paced 90 minute film it is instead a slow burn film about the emotions of these three people and how they feel emotionally at this time in their life. Now for me I liked the approach the film took their are routes they go that is a bit stereotypical of the genre but aside from those few things I like that it didn’t fall into what most romance films do which is just repeat the same thing over and over again I am in the mindset if we are going to revisit this genre show me something new we have yet to see be explored from this genre which it did. The way Celine Song captures the aching pain of wanting to grow old with someone but told though a landscape through this dating guru played by Dakota Johnson I thought was incredibly emotionally impactful due to how she shows how society has got to a point where we prioritize Materialistic things before the person’s personality but at the same time people who have been hurt in the pain just start putting a list of what their ideal partner is and if they don’t fit that criteria they aren’t going to romantically pursue them. Then it gets to a point when your at an age and you just want someone to grow old with and their is a inner struggle Dakota’s character faces that makes her revaluate her  entire outlook on love and what she thinks it means to her. The film really lies best in the writing in my opinion as the film is not trying to be this sleek stylistic film that has tons of jukebox tunes that transition from one scene to the next their are long stretches of silences in the film where you can feel the emotion in those long pauses of silence. The writing by Celine Song is top notch as she has great character growth for it’s central Lead and she is able to write dialogue in a way that is perfectly catered to that specific actor as she knows how they would deliver it in their tone that would also work best in the interest of the character also. The film shows themes of self identity crisis, depression, Love lost along with love found, being hyper focused on things that don’t matter in the scheme of things. The film calls out the utter nonsense of how outlandish the dating scene has become and I feel a lot of people will feel seen in this film in one way or another if it is Dakota’s character Chris’s character or the clients she represents their is something that everyone can relate to from a human connection level of the topic of love and wanting to be loved which this film is able to hit on it’s head perfectly that just rings true to it’s topic in a way that I haven’t seen shown in such a realistic space like this in quite sometime. The way it discusses how materialism has overtaken how people evaluate relationships is shown in brutal truth and sure this is not the rom com people may have envisioned but it is better then that as we have seen films of that time and time again this film is a mediation on love and the many complexities that come with it told from the perspective of a love guru which I think is so refreshing and had me hooked from the first frame to it’s final shot. The way the writing is done to the sheer great character arcs all three leads go on is terrific Celine Song has captured what people have been chasing after which is to belong to someone to love them back and their is a primal relatability  to the material Celine Song captures so beautifully that I think is such incredible writing that has a style to it but is done in a subtle way The sheer way the themes were tackled and the message of the film is executed was terrific again one of the biggest strengths of this film lies within the written word that is done by the person at the helm of it all Celine Song. 

Secondly, This film has a stacked three actor line up from Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal to Chris Evans all of them give solid work in different ways that contribute greatly to the screen. Now Pedro Pascal is not in this film for what many may think is a lot but I thought he was in it for the right amount of time as he is not supposed to be one of the main characters through the whole film we learn from who he is and he serves a great purpose to the narrative for sure but the way they use him onscreen I thought was smarty done. He comes onto the screen with such charm and sexual energy that oozes confidence and Pedro taps into it in such a greatly subtle and soft spoken way that just has you glued to him the whole time he is onscreen due to the way he carries himself. He never even raises his voice in the film he is this soft spoken gentleman that sure comes from money but is constantly trying to say that does not define him as a person he wants to be liked for his personality and not what he has. Pedro portrays this character with a great tenderness as he is very gentle and floats in a scene with his great line delivery and ability to just win over the audience with that twinkle in his eye but he also gives this character as much depth as he could for the screen time he had I think he did a solid job. Then Chris Evans who we haven’t seen really do anything dramatic like this since post endgame was refreshing to see as we saw him in Knives Out but that was about it and was 6 years ago now so it has been quite sometime since we have seen Evans really stand out in a film. Here he plays the best friend and ex of Dakota Johnson and he is the stark contrast to who Pedro is as if Pedro perfectly describes what wealth and the rich lifestyle is he shows the polar opposite of that in how incredibly poor he is and how he is just scraping by in life. Chris Evans has this puppy like quality to when he is around Dakota Johnson’s character as we see him with his roommates being easily set off but the moment he is around her this softer side to him emerges and you can see he likes who he is around her. Chris brings this emotional vulnerability to his eyes that tells you everything he is feeling without having to say a word and it is powerfully conveyed onscreen Chris Evans delivers a high caliber act that I would go as far as saying is one of his finest performances of his career. Then you have the star of the film my favourite performance of the entire film which is Dakota Johnson who plays this matchmaker guru who thinks she has a firm grasp on the topic of love and what people desire most in relationships and yet that may be her Job within her personal life her dating life is extremely complicated. Dakota shines amazingly well in this film she has had a rocky last couple of years with the fifty shades film to Madam Web she needed a hit even if it is just a critical hit and she hits gold with this film showing audiences she has quite a great range emotionally and can deliver a terrific performance under the right director and if the material is right for her which it is and she gives a sensational turn in this film that is so damn good. Overall the whole cast give solid performances and each of them stand out in their own special way. 

Lastly, Materialists is not your run of the mill romance film which people may of expected it is a slow meditation on love and companionship and how it is complicated, messy, not always perfect and sometimes just sometimes you may end up finding the love of your life and the way Celine Song weaves that narrative together is magic. The way the screenplay is crafted is a massive highlight for me her ability to write the perfect dialogue for her characters is amazing and then on top of the great direction and writing on the film you have amazing performances from all 3 central actors Pedro Pascal is charismatic, Chris Evans gives one of his finest performances and Dakota Johnson is electric in this film. Overall the film shows love at it’s most intimate and personal ways and that is why I think it is one of the best takes on love I have seen in a very long time Materialist is a film I will be revisiting for sure and a film that I think will find it’s audience in years to come. I recommended people who loved Celine Song’s Past Lives to check this out or if you just love a great romance tale to see this film. 

This film centres around a woman who is a love guru who puts people on dates for who they think would best suit them while her love life is an absolute overcomplicated mess of her own trying to navigate both worlds of her own

Rated R : Brief Sexual Material|Language

Dakota Johnson : Dakota finally shows us she is capable of giving a truly solid performance when the right material falls into her lap! Now I have seen the last couple rocky years that were the Fifty Shades of grey trilogy and then their was the disastrous Madam Web and so It was not looking good for roles that Dakota was getting and she sure needed a hit on her hands if that was a box office hit or critically and here she has a big hit on her hands finally showing people that she has what it takes to lead a film dramatically and be able to show her chops that best suit her. Here she plays this matchmaker that as we first see her has a grasp on her career and feels she knows what people desire most in their romantic partners and has shown successfully how to pair the right people with one another. As she goes to a celebration of one of her clients she is awe struck by a guy working the room played by Pedro Pascal and she sees how not only he checks off all the boxes of her own personal list he is kind of a enigma that she can’t figure out in how he is so perfect. She herself has no idea how to approach her dating life especially when it comes to speaking to him as no one has ever come this close to being so smooth in everything they do but she still engages with him to see what he is about at the same party she also sees her ex boyfriend who is seeming to be catering the event and catches up with him as we can see he has never really gotten over here regardless of all the time that has passed between the two. As the film progresses something terrible happens to a client of hers during a date she set her up with and it makes her reevaluate her entire way of approaching the dating world as she thinks maybe she was wrong about her attitude towards it and it gets to a point where she lashes out at her clients and can’t function the way she used to at her job all the while juggling all this stuff with the man she is talking to and her ex boyfriend trying to move himself back into her life. She sees that love us complicated and messy and not always what you think it was and she sees first hand the way she had used love as a selling point to her clients may of just been a tactic to get people engaged with her business and their comes the question does she really believe in the words she uses to sell her clients on or is it just all fluff. She also has these incredibly high expectations she puts on men that she gets romantically involved with that they have to meet or else she is not interested at all and that is all due to her past experiences and we see first hand she does not want to be as she calls it broke or fighting over money all the time but once she sees how she tries that rich lifestyle is nice and it offers great things it does not fill her up as she is noticing her life is just wanting to have nice things but at the end of the day having a meaningful connection and being able to open up to someone emotionally  is more satisfying to her then anything because then she knows she can confide in them in a way she cant with just anyone which is something she deeply needs. Dakota Johnson explores all these areas of the character in such an engaging way you cant help but get wrapped up in her arc that we see her set on as she goes from this super confident woman that seems so sure of herself to wanting to see how the rich and stylish side lives and when she explores that eventually and at first seems exciting and fun it does not last the way she thought it would. Until we see her broken down and have to look back on who she is emotionally does she finally find the answer of what makes her fulfilled.  Johnson is able to explore the depths of her heart in all these Many layers with such fantastic emotional grit that has you wrapped around her finger and she knocks it out of the park as she is able to present so many versions of herself we the audience had never seen before while also giving a fully realized look of this character by the end that is satisfying and Dakota delivers in spades when she is at the bottom of her ropes and is desperate to make sense of the madness that is her life we see the life drained from her eyes and her on the brink of tears and Dakota brings that emotional desperation to want to just figure things out so well that you are wanting her to find peace with herself within her love life by the end. Dakota brings what I think is her finest work to date to the screen as you get to see her just peel back the layers of this character more and more and she really shows her heart onscreen and bares herself emotionally it is a performance that is so well timed emotionally as her arc goes through many peaks and valleys and we learn at the core of it she just wants to be loved like everyone else. Dakota Johnson finds the truth of that character in such a terrific way you can’t help but be mesmerized by her work onscreen an overall incredibly strong performance by Dakota Johnson.

Celine Song : Celine did a tremendous job at brining this film to the screen! As I have been praising already the sheer way the dialogue is crafted for each specific actor onscreen was masterfully done as well as shaping a film that comments on the outlook of modern dating and critiquing the many problems of how people look at relationships when searching for love. This film was not trying to go out of it’s way to be the next Sleepless in Seattle we have seen that film and many of them from that genre so the way to go about this film is how can you visit a genre people love to go to but bring something new to the genre that keeps it refreshing and what Celine shows is how utterly messy the dating world has become in todays day and age. The film is not looking down on how people have so many expectations sure their is some light humour at how ridiculous people can be when making their standards for the perfect partner that she comments on but she more explores of how people have lost their way in wanting human connection and while people are making a list that is so long of what best suits their needs they know in the deepest parts of their heart at the centre of it they don’t want to be alone they want companionship so when you take away the huge amount of expectation your left with people just longing to love and be loved in return that is what each single person that Dakota Johnson’s clients all have in common and Celine Song puts a spotlight on that and sure their will be a large amount of people when watching this film feel either seen or called out as they can see maybe a bit to much of themselves in the material onscreen. But the film is not wanting to just be another run of the mill Rom com that we have seen time and time again but instead operate as a think piece on the expectation of the dating world and the many forms and complications love takes on which I thought was a beautiful outlook to the picture. Pedro Pascal represents high society and Chris Evans is a look on the average person just getting by and then the girl thrown in the middle is Dakota Johnson seeing both worlds but which is the one that is more accessible to her on an emotional level and we see both sides of that coin throughout the whole film. I think Celine Song captured amazingly well the commentary that had to eventually be done on how the hunt for love has lost sight of what is important and she breaks it down to it’s core values of what matters most which is fantastic and it is presented through the three central roles and this is a film that some may like some may not but I give her massive credit for having the courage to be the person to finally call out the competitive, and to a degree ridiculous expectation that been put on dating for years now and this film just calls it out for what it is no sugar coating but brutal honesty and Celine Song once again gives a great film about the human condition shown through the lens of modern dating a truly well rounded directed film.