Celine Song’s second feature, Materialists, arrived with considerable anticipation after the quiet impact of Past Lives. Where that debut leaned into memory, fate, and transnational longing, her new film turns to the glossy, transactional world of contemporary romance in New York City. The story follows Lucy, a professional matchmaker played by Dakota Johnson, whose work involves pairing wealthy clients with ideal partners according to an unspoken calculus of desirability, pedigree, and prestige. Her skill at navigating this terrain is challenged when she finds herself caught between two men: John, an ex-boyfriend (Chris Evans) who represents a more precarious, emotionally raw kind of intimacy, and Harry, a wealthy, polished suitor (Pedro Pascal) who embodies the kind of security and social perfection her business is designed to sell. The conceit allows Song to probe a world where dating often resembles a marketplace more than a personal journey. By choosing a protagonist whose profess...