Planning to watch Materialists, Subham or Devil’s Double: Next Level? Read this

Why is your life a never-ending soap? Why is it not a romantic comedy but a depressing art house film? Why are you trapped in a trope — are you even real, or fiction by some bad writer scribbling with crayons and his tongue out? Celine Song’s Materialists is a romantic comedy set in the reality check of your bank balance, what you can afford, and what you can deliver. Samantha Prabhu’s debut production Subham is about a neighbourhood haunted by dead grannies who possess new brides to resume their soap binge, their souls still awaiting closure and an ending before they can rest in peace. And Devil’s Double: Next Levelwhere a YouTuber finds himself trapped in a horror movie he must survive and outsmart with all the clichés he knows about the genre.

What a week for meta storytelling!

Love in times of uncertainty

Materialists is understandably getting mixed, polarising reactions from the audience — so real and savage it slaps the romance out of our senses before offering a warm shoulder.

My editor was irritated by the script, which she declared too sappy and stereotypical for this age of cynicism where bank balances trump moody romance. But, isn’t the fantasy the reason we go to the movies?

A still from Materialists
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Yes — except this very story has been done before, and better. By a 22-year-old screenwriter named Helen Childress, whose script Reality Bites convinced her friend Winona Ryder to hire her friends — two guys named Ben Stiller and Ethan Hawke — to direct and act in the movie.

Thirty years later, it still holds up — and how! As a sharper articulation of the ideas behind Materialistswith tighter writing filled with genuine ache and longing in “the winter of our discontent”, Ethan Hawke channelling Jesse even before he became the Jesse from Linklater’s Before trilogy.

A still from Reality Bites
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Materialists does have its merits. The cast is easy on the eyes: Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, Pedro Pascal. Occasionally, there’s a good line: “When you are lost, just go where love is.”

Cute. But try topping this one from Reality Bites: “All I want is a couch, a couple smokes, a cup of coffee, and a little bit of conversation. You and me and five bucks.”

So here’s the math: Reality Bites: 100 > Materialists: 1

Ghost stories

Santhanam’s follow-up to DD Returns, Devil’s Double: Next Level (streaming on Zee5), has such a fun premise. YouTube film critics are targeted by the ghost of a dead producer in a movie hall that traps them in a film. Though full of potential jokes, the movie settles for the bare minimum.

Yet, it cracks you up every now and then, saving the punchline for the end.

How do you get out of a bad franchise? Don’t kill the villain. Kill the hero. Kill the star. Five stars for the messaging, three for the movie.

A still from Subham
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Special arrangement

In Subhamthe laughs come from men trying to shoot an alternate version of the never-ending soap — one with an ending that can finally provide closure to the dead grannies who’ve possessed their brides to catch up on their favourite show.

While figuring out what ending would make them happy, the men also become better humans. The film is less of a horror flick and more of a smart ode to the power of movies — like Be Kind, Rewindwhere the guys running the video store shoot their own versions of their favourite films.

Subham is now streaming on Disney.

Getting lost in the movies could be a holiday, a getaway vacation or a nightmare. Choose wisely.

From the hottest shows to hidden gems, overlooked classics to guilty pleasures, FOMO Fix is a fortnightly compass through the chaos of content. Expect timely recommendations, spoiler-free insights, and an honest heads-up on what to not miss.