The characters in the romantic comedy Materialists, Celine Song's follow-up to Past Lives, see the dating pool in terms of the "market" – people are evaluated by how "competitive" they are and marriage is treated like an equation to be solved.

The writer-director breaks down that ending: "When there is an offer of true love, all you can do is accept it.”

By this metric alone, Celine Song’s “Materialists” is something else entirely. Song’s characters tell us bluntly what their salary is, or how much their apartment costs. Economic reality, in fact, drives the narrative.