Why So Blu?

Materialists (Blu-ray Review)

Film

Modern Romance

Materialists centers on Lucy (Dakota Johnson), a successful matchmaker in New York City who treats romance almost like a marketplace. She helps clients define their “non-negotiables”—things like money, looks, and lifestyle—as though love were just another transaction. Her careful world is thrown into conflict when she becomes involved with two men: Harry (Pedro Pascal), a wealthy financier who represents stability and status, and John (Chris Evans), her ex-boyfriend, a struggling actor whose life is anything but polished. Lucy finds herself torn between the comfort of material security and the messy authenticity of unresolved love. The story builds toward her choosing John, embracing the uncertainty of a less perfect life but one that feels real.

Casting and Performances

Dakota Johnson shoulders the film as Lucy, a character who lives with one foot in cold calculation and the other in longing. She plays the slick, professional matchmaker with ease, but sometimes the film seems to hold her character at arm’s length, leaving her emotions more guarded than they might need to be. Chris Evans, meanwhile, brings real warmth to John, the kind of role that lets him lean into charm and vulnerability rather than action-hero bravado. He feels lived-in and relatable, which makes Lucy’s pull back toward him convincing. Pedro Pascal as Harry has less to do, but he embodies the allure of comfort and status in a way that makes Lucy’s temptation believable. Watching these three bounce off one another is one of the film’s strongest elements, even when the love triangle doesn’t feel as sharp as it could.

Filming Choices and Tone

Visually, the film carries the same thoughtful elegance that Celine Song brought to Past Lives. The camera lingers on contrasts: Harry’s glossy, refined world versus John’s cluttered, imperfect one. Costumes and set design reflect Lucy’s effort to straddle these realities, with outfits and environments that often look like borrowed versions of the wealth she chases. The tone is part romance, part critique of how modern dating can feel transactional, and part melancholy reflection on what people really want from love. There’s humor sprinkled in—especially in Lucy’s matchmaking sessions—but the film’s heart lies in its quieter, more serious moments. At times, the shifts between comedy, satire, and sincerity can feel uneven, yet the overall mood is distinctive and ambitious.

What Works

The film shines most when it explores its central theme: how modern love is shaped by materialism and status. Lucy’s conflict between a partner who “makes sense on paper” and one who makes sense in her heart is instantly relatable in today’s dating landscape. The contrasts between characters are expressed not just in dialogue but in visual choices, which give the story texture. And when the film slows down to let its characters drop their defenses, the emotional honesty resonates. Evans especially benefits from these moments, grounding the film in a way that keeps it from drifting into abstraction.

What Doesn’t Work

Where Materialists stumbles is in fully committing to its love triangle. Lucy’s dilemma is clear, but the stakes don’t always feel as sharp as they could be, partly because the film never quite builds tension between Harry and John beyond Lucy’s perspective. Some tonal shifts also feel disjointed. The film occasionally slips from satire to sincerity in ways that can undercut both. Even the unusual prehistoric bookends—meant as a metaphor about love and survival across time—come across more distracting than profound. And while Lucy is meant to be guarded, her emotional journey sometimes feels muted, leaving the audience wanting a deeper look into what truly drives her choice.

Video  

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC
Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Region: A
HDR: N/A
Layers: BD-50

Clarity and Detail:
The Blu-ray delivers a pleasingly sharp and well-defined image. Textures in clothing, set dressings, and architectural elements are handled with care, and detail remains consistent across both close-ups and wider compositions. The source appears to retain a natural filmic feel, avoiding edge enhancement or overt sharpening. Overall, the clarity is strong without becoming harsh.

Depth:
The disc maintains a solid sense of dimensionality. Foreground, middle, and background elements are distinct, especially in interiors and cityscape exteriors. The layering feels intentional, giving scenes breathing room. In darker or more subtle lighting, the image still holds separation rather than collapsing flat.

Black Levels:
Black levels appear firm and stable. Shadow regions preserve texture and nuance without descending into crushing. Nighttime sequences remain readable, with detail held in darker corners and without visible clipping, thereby supporting the contrast needed for dramatic imagery.

Color:
The color grading leans slightly warm and restrained, delivering a tasteful palette that complements the film’s aesthetic. Highlights, ambient light, and surface variations are controlled and do not overstep into glaring or unnatural territory. The overall tone feels cinematic, with a modest stylization that works for the material.

Flesh Tones:
Skin tones are natural and believable, with a gentle warmth that doesn’t veer into overly orange or waxy territory. Across a variety of lighting setups, tones remain consistent and retain healthy texture and gradation. Facial detail is preserved well without clipping or color shifts.

Noise and Artifacts:
The encode is clean and well-behaved. No obvious signs of banding, macroblocking, aliasing, or compression artifacts are evident. Grain (if present) is subtle and uniform, integrated into the image rather than standing out as distraction. The overall result is stable and artifact-free.

Audio

Audio Format(s): Dolby Atmos (lossless, object-based)
Subtitles: English (plus optional additional subtitle tracks)

Dynamics:
The mix offers a healthy dynamic range. Quiet, intimate moments are soft and nuanced, while musical passages and ambient sound design can swell with presence. Loud sequences (such as crowd or city ambiances) push with authority without audible strain. The audio never feels compressed or flattened in its dynamics.

Height:
Height channel use is judicious but effective. Overhead cues—especially in outdoor scenes, city ambience, and transitional sequences—lend air to the soundstage without being intrusive. The Atmos integration augments spatial depth more than it “calls attention” to itself.

Low Frequency Extension:
The sub/bass region is solid: the soundtrack supports its rhythmic and musical moments with full weight, but it’s not overbearing. Sub-bass is present and controlled; in more subtle cues it complements rather than dominates, giving a sense of grounding rather than boominess.

Surround Sound:
The surround field is consistently active. Ambient textures, environmental effects, and crowd or traffic atmospheres make good use of the side and rear channels. The mix promotes immersion: sounds drift naturally around the listener, enhancing the sense of place—especially in exterior urban sequences. It feels spacious without hollow echoes.

Dialogue:
Dialogue remains clear, stable, and well centered. Voice levels stay consistent across interior and exterior scenes, even when the environment becomes sonically dense. The mix maintains intelligibility without resorting to artificially pushing dialogue forward; it sounds natural and well grounded in the soundscape.

Extras

As is the standard with A24’s newest releases, there is Digipak packaging with art cards in addition to some short features on disc.

Special Features:

• • Filmmaker Commentary with Writer-Director Celine Song

• • The Math of Modern Love: Making Materialists
• • Composer Deep Dive with Japanese Breakfast

Summary

Four decades from now, Materialists may not be remembered as a defining romance, but it will likely stand as one of the more thoughtful films about modern love and its entanglement with class, money, and aspiration. It’s a film that works best in its quiet truths, less so in its broader conceits. Still, it lingers. If Past Lives captured longing across time, Materialists captures longing across circumstance—and though less graceful, it’s a reflection that feels very much of this moment.

Buy Materialists HERE