My own take on a minor film debate

In 2023, Celine Song burst onto the film scene with Past Lives, an indie feature that remains one of the best debuts of a writer/director I’ve ever encountered. A much loved movie by critics and audiences, (If you didn’t like it, don’t come sit by me) I’ve seen the movie multiple times, I even teach it, in depth, in a Film Directing class at Chapman University. It’s that good.

So I was excited to see Song’s sophomore effort, just released, Materialists, a movie that, in my circle at least, is dividing the audience wildly. I can see why. I’m not sure Song could have made a movie, no less well made, that could invert her first feature so completely.

Past Lives is one of the most gloriously romantic movies I’ve ever seen. Which doesn’t mean it is conventional. While part of me wishes I had seen the movie, the first time, in a theatre, given it’s visual beauty and astoundingly confident technique, I ultimately am glad my first viewing was at home, alone, on my couch. When the justifiably famous six minute finale ended, much of which is a single take, I was sobbing as hard as I ever have in my life. This was a moment the phrase “I was a fucking mess” was invented for. When I finally could, well, breathe, about thirty minutes later, I was thankful I’d not humiliated myself in a theatre with people, the way I have before (see note at end.)

The movie is so simple, yet remarkably complex. Past Lives is so simple, yet it has so much to say. At its core, it presents us with, initially, two, then three, characters we care so deeply about, and become so conflicted about every possible outcome, the movie is enthralling, empathetic, heartwarming, devastating, romantic and, yes, at times funny. I love this movie… sorry, can you tell?

And yet Materialists is dividing people in a rather savage fashion. Before seeing it, I talked to quite a few people who enjoyed it and then wow, some people who despised it. Now having seen it, I understand both camps.

Materialists is, in plot, another romantic triangle, a women caught between two men, the similar set up of Past Lives. But with Materialists, Song, in whom I have complete faith (at least that her vision reached the screen, but I have a lot more faith than that) seemed to set out to make an anti-Past Lives, an anti-romance, a movie structured like a romance but a romance is so hard, so arch, it seems to purposefully push the viewer away at every turn.

This is a short post as I don’t want to spoil either movie for those who haven’t seen them. (And if you haven’t seen Past Lives, what are you waiting for?? I’ll send you the $3.99 if that what it takes to get you to watch it.) But being a Song fan (still am) I wanted to throw in my 2-cents.

I enjoyed Materialists a lot. It is savagely funny, much funnier that Past Lives. I saw it with one of my best friends (and roommate from film school, yes we go back that far) Mark and we were often howling with laughter through much of the first two-thirds. The movie is ostensibly about match-making, something Song did herself, and goodness, can you see her bringing her real life experience into the plot.

If I ever make a film about a waiter, it will be similarly savage and funny.

But the movie did keep me at a distance. Which, I want to be clear, is not necessarily a complaint. Because I thoroughly enjoyed it and would watch the movie again. But much of it is so cynical, and savage, and, again, the best word I can use here, is arch, you watch the movie from afar and it is difficult to get involved emotionally. I never much cared what happened to anyone, save one minor character who is heartbreaking. Given the subject matter and much of what happens in the film, I suspect this may have been one of Song’s objectives. I can now only guess. But I was shocked, and also admired, how different in tone the movie was from her debut.

That’s my quick take! Without giving away too much. I would love to know what you think!

And as for the times I have, not just embarrassed but humiliated myself in a movie theatre (by crying… believe me, there are other ways I humiliate myself in a theatre)….

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

The Fox and The Hound

Field of Dreams

The End of the Affair

My Dog Skip (this actually occurred on an airplane, it was a disaster and I was a FOOL to watch a movie about a dog on an airplane)

Up (when that prologue ended, a seven year old near me asked “Mommy, what’s the matter with that man?”)

Arrival

Train to Busan