QUALITY MATERIAL

Dating & cinema is a perfect match

- Lynn Rusk

A DECADE ago, when writer and director Celine Song was beginning her career as a playwright in New York, she took up matchmaking as a “day job.”

For the next 10 years, the South Korean-born Canadian filmmaker tried to write about that experience and what it taught her about modern love and dating. The result of her efforts is Materialists, a romance film exploring relationships across the class divide.

Materialists, Song's followup to her Oscar-nominated debut Past Lives, tells the story of Lucy, a high-end matchmaker played by Dakota Johnson who finds herself torn between her aspiring actor ex-boyfriend, John, played by Chris Evans, and a charming millionaire, Harry, portrayed by Pedro Pascal.

The film explores the transactional nature of modern dating in New York, where Lucy's clients lay out strict non-negotiables for potential partners, ranging from a minimum height of six feet to six-figure salaries, fit physiques, and strong hairlines.

"I think that I learned more about people in those six months than I did in any other part of my life," says the 36-year-old filmmaker, reflecting on her experience as a matchmaker.