Celine Song the auteur, for better or worse

On Materialists

I was talking to a friend of mine who is gearing up to script her second feature, always a pivotal moment for any creative. It’s a chance to solidify your voice, maybe even signal the kind of artist you intend to be. All of the ideas she floated sounded like natural extensions of first film, rooted in the same world and carrying forward its particular eccentricities.

Then we saw an actual second feature: Celine Song’s Materialists, a who-will-she choose romantic drama that reinforces the playwright-turned-filmmaker’s thematic preoccupations, (limited) cinematic style, and writing foibles—most troublingly, a resistance to crafting psychologically-rich characters.