The Substance

"The Substance" leaves NOTHING to the imagination, but its subtext reveals brilliance.

 Substance 

review by 

jaron summers (c) 2024

 

Films such as Sunset Boulevard and Dorian Gray are metaphors for Glamour-Gone-Goofy.

Most Hollywood films of glamor-gone-goofy leave something to the imagination.

The Substance leaves NOTHING to the imagination, but its subtext reveals brilliance.

Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) regains youth via an injection like Ultra Uber Ozempic. Consequences? Becoming Ms. Frankenstein, and worse—a body double, or triple (Margaret Qualley).

So what’s Ms. Moore going do? Here’s a hint: The film is two and half hours long. 

And here’s the good news: it seems like ten minutes.

And one more thing, Substance is a horror film, and the horror is you can’t stop watching it.


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jaron

Jaron Summers wrote dozens of primetime television and radio programs, including those for HBO, CBS, ACCESS TV and CBC. He conceived the TV and Film Institute of Canada. Funded by the University of Alberta and ITV, Jaron ran the Institute for 12 years, donating his services for a decade.

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