November 1st - The Substance (2024)

3/5

So much to say about this one. I'm conflicted. Amazing acting and cinematography. On a technical level this mostly was excellent, but it could've been at least an hour shorter. There were so many places I would've cut it and it would've felt just as effective. It felt a bit heavy handed with the messaging, which worked in the more literal horrific aspects but not so much in the more somber moments.

On a more personal level, I'm not great with food as a symbol of overindulgence or shock factor in horror, it just doesn't land for me without some extra to make it something More (Elisabeth should've foie gras-ed Sue) so I didn't particularly care for its use here. The ending was spectacular though I wasn't a fan of Elisabeth hallucinating stardom as she died when that's the thing that killed her. I feel a tragic end where she dies seeing what her lack of compassion for herself resulted in instead would have been more interesting.

I absolutely understand what it was saying about both the societal and personal roles involved in body image and the chase for unattainable beauty, but it felt less like a dual headed problem and more like the narrative couldn't choose which to focus on. Additionally, it felt like a lot of underlying themes and motifs got dropped that would've been wiiiiiild to explore (Sue referring to Liz as her mom! The other substance user talking about lonliness bookended by Elisabeth attempting a connection with Fred!)

Ultimately I see the style I see the vision but it bit off more than it could chew.