Preston Marr’s review published on Letterboxd:
The Substance is one of the years’ best. Wow, what a hilarious, stylistic, and grotesque body-horror thrill-ride this was that packs quite the punch. I really appreciated how in your face and straightforward this was, I immediately was on this films’ wavelength after the opening scene. Coralie Fargeat does a phenomenal job directing this as it has such a sleek style to it and shoots a lot of abrasive close-ups throughout as you feel you are peering into these character(s). She has some of the sharpest direction i’ve seen this year and i’m looking forward to seeing her dominate at awards season as she also wrote the screenplay, which is exceptional as well. The film looks outstanding as the cinematography is very eye-popping with pitch-perfect color correction as everything feels so polished. The score & sound design are both magnetic and magnificent as it’s ominous yet alluring as well which feels right on par. The writing is excellent as it’s got very funny satire & feels fresh but also shocking, gross, and somewhat sad as well. In what feels like an always relevant theme this works as anti-plastic-surgery, treating your body & mind as one unit, and working with yourself to give you a better future for your body & life when you are older. Margaret Qualley is great and Dennis Quaid gives one of the most memorable supporting performances i’ve seen from this year, he’s completely outrageous in the best way possible. Demi Moore is fantastic in this as I do believe she gives the strongest performance here & it’s such a joy to see her unravel as she really does loose it in here and is so good doing so. The last 30 minutes of this are as advertised, it’s truly can’t look away from the screen sorta stuff going on and I couldn’t get enough of it. It’s completely batshit insane as I was on the edge of my seat having the most entertaining time i’ve had in a theater in months and with a crowd is such an added plus as well. However, I do have a few negatives here too. I don’t think we ever get to fully know “Elisabeth Sparkle” (Demi Moore) with as much screen time as we get with her she always feels distanced and not as fleshed out as she should be. The film runs into some pacing issues and feels a bit too long honestly. Lastly, I do think the plot stalls some in the second act without things progressing much really. Seeing this in a theater with a decently sized audience was actually a blessing and i’ll be thinking about this one for awhile. Genuinely excited to see how it does in awards season and what it can get nominated for/win at the “Oscars” as this in my top three for this year so far but I still have much to watch. I am going to immediately advise you to see this in a theater and I am absolutely looking forward to my rewatch. I am going to give The Substance a 79% 🏆.
Preston liked these reviews
All
' ].join(''); if ( adsScript && adsScript === 'bandsintown' && adsPlatforms && ((window.isIOS && adsPlatforms.indexOf("iOS") >= 0) || (window.isAndroid && adsPlatforms.indexOf("Android") >= 0)) && adsLocations && adsMode && ( (adsMode === 'include' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) >= 0) || (adsMode === 'exclude' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) == -1) ) ) { var opts = { artist: "", song: "", adunit_id: 100005950, div_id: "cf_async_abd28c7c-3367-447b-97fb-1802a13781d5" }; adUnit.id = opts.div_id; if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.tunefindforfans.com/fruits/apricots.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; } else { adUnit.id = 'pw-abd28c7c-3367-447b-97fb-1802a13781d5'; adUnit.className = 'pw-div -tile300x250 -alignleft -bottommargin'; adUnit.setAttribute('data-pw-' + (renderMobile ? 'mobi' : 'desk'), 'med_rect_btf'); if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => { adUnit.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', kicker); window.ramp.que.push(function () { window.ramp.addTag('pw-abd28c7c-3367-447b-97fb-1802a13781d5'); }); }, { once: true }); } } tag.remove(); })(document.getElementById('script-abd28c7c-3367-447b-97fb-1802a13781d5'));
' ].join(''); if ( adsScript && adsScript === 'bandsintown' && adsPlatforms && ((window.isIOS && adsPlatforms.indexOf("iOS") >= 0) || (window.isAndroid && adsPlatforms.indexOf("Android") >= 0)) && adsLocations && adsMode && ( (adsMode === 'include' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) >= 0) || (adsMode === 'exclude' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) == -1) ) ) { var opts = { artist: "", song: "", adunit_id: 100005950, div_id: "cf_async_72e6ce0b-8932-4a2c-a55b-1b4e291c2a2f" }; adUnit.id = opts.div_id; if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.tunefindforfans.com/fruits/apricots.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; } else { adUnit.id = 'pw-72e6ce0b-8932-4a2c-a55b-1b4e291c2a2f'; adUnit.className = 'pw-div'; adUnit.setAttribute('data-pw-' + (renderMobile ? 'mobi' : 'desk'), 'sky_btf'); if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => { adUnit.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', kicker); window.ramp.que.push(function () { window.ramp.addTag('pw-72e6ce0b-8932-4a2c-a55b-1b4e291c2a2f'); }); }, { once: true }); } } tag.remove(); })(document.getElementById('script-72e6ce0b-8932-4a2c-a55b-1b4e291c2a2f'));
