Celine Song’s Materialists releases in theaters next weekend, and the director’s follow-up to Past Lives is one of this summer’s most anticipated movies. The film stars Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal, and Chris Evans in an unlikely love triangle, as a New York matchmaker struggles to choose between her “perfect” match and her ex-boyfriend.

Thankfully, there’s no shortage of brilliant romance movies from the past few years to keep audiences entertained while waiting for Materialists to finally be released. These kinds of fun, original stories are more than welcome in today’s cinematic climate, offering a much-needed break from the ongoing “franchise” filmmaking that’s typically on the big screens.

10

Past Lives (2023)

Directed By Celine Song

Celine Song’s previous feature, Past Lives, is an excellent debut that immediately put the filmmaker on the map as one of the industry’s leading voices in rich, human stories. The movie follows two Korean-American immigrants whose complex relationship spans several decades, leading to them reuniting in New York as adults.

What’s so powerful about Past Lives is how universal it is; it’s a story that genuinely speaks to the audience with its patient, empathetic narrative that everybody can relate to in some way. It’s a very singular work that really understands what it means to be human and connect with other people, which Song explores through complex characters and gorgeous visual imagery.

9

Columbus (2017)

Directed By Kogonada

Kogonada’s Columbus is a very unconventional romance, following the budding friendship between a Korean architect who finds himself stranded in rural Ohio and a young girl tasked with looking after her recovering mother. While Columbus isn’t a cut-and-dry romance in the same way that Materialists is, its powerful atmosphere and deeply human characters should work for a similar audience.

Columbus takes a leaf out of Lost in Translation’s book in many ways, blurring the lines between friendship and romance as these two strangers learn about the world around them through the lens of each other’s lives. Kogonada’s screenplay ᴀssures the audience that romance and friendship aren’t always the fairytales that movies present, but rather something that evolves in more complicated ways.

8

Phantom Thread (2017)

Directed By Paul Thomas Anderson

Paul Thomas Anderson has always been interested in rich, character-driven stories, but Phantom Thread is the first time he’s centered his narrative so firmly around romance. The story follows a talented designer who falls in love with one of his clients, allowing his newfound romance to reshape his perspective of the world. It’s a very slow, methodical drama that really lets the audience get inside the minds of these characters, with Daniel Day-Lewis’ lead performance remaining some of his most tender and vulnerable work to date.

7

Frances Ha (2012)

Directed By Noah Baumbach

Noah Baumbach is renowned for his ability to create deeply personal and empathetic characters to lead his stories, and Frances Ha is no different. Despite following a fairly simple and formulaic coming-of-age structure, the movie still feels incredibly innovative and subversive in its presentation of early adulthood.

Greta Gerwig delivers her most entertaining performance to date as Frances, a young woman who is forced to tackle the endless challenges of life head-on when her roommate moves away. The result is one of Baumbach and Gerwig’s best movies; a thoughtful, poignant rumination on how life’s early experiences can affect us for the rest of our lives.

6

The Souvenir (2019)

Directed By Joanna Hogg

The Souvenir follows a young film student, played by Honor Swinton Byrne, who falls in love with a close friend but soon realizes that her idealized portrait of romance isn’t quite what she signed up for. The movie offers a darker, more pessimistic view of dating in the modern era that highlights just how complicated human emotions can be.

However, director Joanna Hogg does a brilliant job of blending this human conflict with a genuine, raw sense of romance that gives The Souvenir a very powerful and uplifting atmosphere. She weaves so much astute commentary into her screenplay, exploring themes of classism and luxury that are very similar to the ideas Celine Song promotes in both Past Lives and Materialists.

5

Palm Springs (2020)

Directed By Max Barbakow

Starring Cristin Milioti and Andy Samberg as two unlikely lovers caught in an endless time loop during a mutual friend’s wedding, Palm Springs uses its signature blend of romance and comedy to offer a lighter, more uplifting insight into modern romance. It’s an excellent subversion of the Groundhog Day time loop formula, using these recurring moments as a metaphor for the cyclical nature of life and romance.

While the comedy is unsurprisingly great, Palm Springs really shines thanks to its ability to blend this humor with a more tender, philosophical commentary on human connection. As these characters move through the same day over and over again, it becomes easier to ignore the world around them and merely see each other, which is a really strong message that very few rom-coms manage to effectively get across.

4

Portrait Of A Lady On Fire (2019)

Directed By Celine Sciamma

Often cited as the defining romance story of the past decade, there’s no doubt that Celine Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a modern classic. This heartbreaking drama charts the unspoken romance between a female painter and the aristocratic lady she’s commissioned to paint, touching on themes of unrequited love and repressed Sєxuality along the way.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire is such a mature and powerful story about the ubiquity of love, and how unstoppable the magnetism of romance can be. It’s much more dramatic than projects like Materialists, but its commentary on love and relationships is very similar.

3

Decision To Leave (2022)

Directed By Park Chan-wook

Decision To Leave may not seem like a romantic story on the surface, but the way Park Chan-wook uses these characters to navigate more universal themes of longing and repression is what makes it such a staggering piece of work. The movie follows a jaded homicide detective whose work takes him on an arduous journey through South Korea, as he begins to develop strange feelings for his latest case’s widow.

Although Decision to Leave is often remembered for its brilliant cinematography and thematically rich visual language, Park rarely gets enough credit for the level of writing and storytelling on display in this film. Decision to Leave was famously snubbed at the 2023 Oscars, but there’s no denying that his subtextual analysis of love and longing in this project is some of his most powerful work to date.

2

About Time (2013)

Directed By Richard Curtis

Richard Curtis’ films are known for their overt sentimentality and melodramatic storylines, but About Time is a perfect example of how to achieve the same heartfelt vulnerability in a more subtle way. The movie follows a young man who learns that he can travel backwards in time, and uses this ability to spend more time with the woman he’s fallen in love with.

While About Time’s concept is brilliant in itself, what Curtis really excels at here is using this premise as a bridge to explore an even more potent story about the fleeting nature of time and the immutability of life’s decisions. Much like Past Lives and Materialists, it’s a film where the fairytale romance is just a catalyst for the director to offer a richer, more holistic exploration of what it means to be human.

1

The Worst Person In The World (2021)

Directed By Joachim Trier

Although less of a traditional romance and more of a coming-of-age drama that celebrates every emotion a person could possibly feel during their early adulthood, Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World has already become a classic of the genre despite being only four years old.

The story follows a young woman named Julie, played by Renate Reinsve, who struggles to balance her personal and professional lives following a major blow to her relationship. The concept is certainly nothing new within this genre, but it’s Trier’s deeply human screenplay that really makes the project stand out with its insightful commentary on love, grief, trauma, and independence. It feels like a spiritual companion piece to Materialists in many ways, and it’s very possible that Song was inspired by Trier’s work when crafting her own screenplay.