THE SUBSTANCE : Tuesday 24th September 2024

I saw the R18+ rated 'THE SUBSTANCE' earlier this week and this UK and French Co-Production is a satirical body horror film Written, Co-Produced, Directed and Co-Edited by Coralie Fargeat in only her second feature film outing following her 2017 debut with 'Revenge'. This film screened in the Palme d'Or main competition at this years Cannes Film Festival, where Fargeat won the award for Best Screenplay. It was released here in Australia, the US and the UK last week and in France from 6th November, cost almost US$18M to produce, has so far grossed US$6M and has generated positive critical acclaim.

The films opens with a small handful of workmen seen laying a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, with the name of Elisabeth Sparkle emblazoned upon it. Over time with literally hundreds of thousands of feet walking over it, the star becomes cracked and somewhat tarnished. Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore), is a former Academy Award winning Actress and now is renowned for a popular TV aerobics show which has been running for many years. On her 50th birthday she is fired by her boss Harvey (Dennis Quaid) who wants to relaunch the show with a much younger, more virile, more attractive host. On the drive home she is distracted by workers tearing down a billboard of her show, and her vehicle is T-boned by another car and ends up on its roof. Elisabeth is hospitalised but miraculously suffered no injuries, but amid her distress and anxiety a young nurse gives her a flash drive labeled 'The Substance' - a black market product which promotes a mystery supplier's invention - a serum that, when injected, creates a younger, more beautiful, more 'perfect' version of the user, though the two are still connected as one. 

After plugging in the flash drive to her TV and watching the brief ad she initially discards the drive in the bin, but after some deliberation comes back to it. She orders the product and the next day receives a message that her package is ready for collection from a nondescript location seemingly in the arse end of town. Arriving back at her apartment she injects the product - a single use 'Activator' resulting in a younger version of herself in her 20's (Margaret Qualley) being violently and quickly born from a large slit running the length of her spine.

The younger form, stitches up Elisabeth's back and adopts the name 'Sue', and is instructed by the mystery supplier to inject a 'Stabiliser' serum extracted from the unconscious Elisabeth each day. The two are instructed to switch bodies every seven days without fail, with one resting unconsciously and drip fed liquid food while the other lives life as normal. Harvey initiates his talent scouts to begin a search for a new host and when Sue is auditioned she is almost instantly hired back onto Elisabeth's old show and fairly quickly reaches the giddy heights of fame and admiration. When Elisabeth is forced to switch bodies with her, however, she continues to struggle with a heightened sense of inadequacy, loneliness and low self-esteem.

The differences between Elisabeth and Sue become ever more obvious, as Elisabeth begins indulging in overeating and alcohol while Sue addictively extracts more Stabiliser to avoid having to switch bodies, causing Elisabeth to age rapidly at first with a dishevelled index finger, then her left leg with her hair thinning and greying and age spots appearing on her face. Elisabeth contacts the supplier, who tells her that she can either keep obeying the switches or terminate the Substance, neither of which will restore her past appearance. Elisabeth relents and continues to abuse the Substance as Sue.

Weeks pass by as Elisabeth is reduced to a haggard, bent over old woman due to Sue's ongoing addiction. When Sue is invited to host a highly anticipated TV network New Year's Eve special, she extracts enough Stabiliser from Elisabeth's spine to be used for the next couple of months. However, on the eve of the special, Sue runs out of Stabiliser and is forced by the supplier to switch back to Elisabeth. To her abject horror, she is now a hairless and deformed hunchback. 

Desperate, Elisabeth calls the mystery supplier again and asks for the Termination serum. She disguises herself in heavy clothing, goes to the nondescript address and obtains a new serum to end Sue's existence. However, still yearning for that feeling of fame and admiration, she stops at the last second and revives Sue, severing their connection. Upon seeing the near-empty serum, Sue is angered by Elisabeth's actions and repeatedly slams her head against the bathroom mirror. Elisabeth crawls to the lounge room where the pair fight with Sue kicking Elisabeth across the room to leave her in a crumpled heap on top of a shattered glass coffee table only for Sue to repeatedly kick Elisabeth to death until she bleeds out. Sue then leaves to go host the New Year's Eve show.

Unable to stabilise herself as a result of Elisabeth's death, Sue's body begins to rapidly deteriorate backstage. First one of her teeth drops out then more leaving gaping holes in her mouth and then her finger nails begin dropping off too. In a frantic bid to save herself, Sue rushes back to the apartment and disobeys the supplier's instructions and tries to create a new version of herself with leftover Activator. Instead, she inadvertently creates 'Monstro Elisasue', a grotesque hybrid monster of the two. Meanwhile, Harvey and his Board of Directors are excitedly keen to see Sue take to the stage and wow the American TV audience on NYE. 

Monstro goes to take Sue's place and shocks the audience into stunned silence as they take in the scene before them at the live broadcast. The horrified spectators quickly descend into violent chaos, culminating in Monstro's head getting decapitated, grotesquely regenerating and bursting with blood. As the audience becomes drenched in Monstro's blood, the hybrid manages to escape outside before collapsing into a bloody heap of viscera.

The face of the original Elisabeth emerges from the remains as a blob, slowly crawling toward her neglected star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Elisabeth finds solace by positioning herself on the star, eventually merging with it as she melts away. The next morning, her bloody remains are cleaned up by a floor scrubber. 

You have to hand it to Coralie Fargeat who for only her second feature film outing has here written and Directed a script that has something to say about the manner in which we perceive beauty, try to cling on to it as we age, and the ever present impact of the media (in all its forms) on how that beauty is viewed. At the same time Fargeat doesn't shy away from the blood and guts that literally spew forth in the third act that make for a mesmerising watch - the like of which you will have trouble seeing anywhere else this year. Demi Moore gives a no holds barred performance which is probably her finest role in a couple of decades, and is ably supported by Margaret Qualley as two sides of the same coin. If your fan of body horror, blood and entrails aplenty all wrapped up in a neat storyline, then this movie is for you . . . and if not there's plenty of other films at your local Odeon to choose from.

'The Substance' warrants four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new at Odeon's this week : Thursday 19th September 2024.

The 72nd San Sebastian International Film Festival (SSIFF) takes place this year from Friday 20th through until Saturday 28th September, in the Spanish city of San Sebastian, located in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Autonomous Community. Since its creation in 1953 it has established itself as one of the fourteen 'A' category competitive festivals accredited by the FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers Associations), of which it has one of the lowest budgets. It has hosted several important events of the history of cinema, including the international Premieres of 'Vertigo', Directed by Alfred Hitchcock and the European Premiere of 'Star Wars'. It was the first festival attended by Roman Polanski and has helped advance the professional careers of filmmakers such as Francis Ford Coppola, Bong Joon-ho and Pedro Almodovar.

This years Opening Film presentation is Audrey Diwan's erotic drama film 'Emmanuelle' and stars Noemie Merlant and Naomi Watts. The Closing Film is the romantic comedy drama film 'We Live in Time' Directed by John Crowley and starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh. 

There are sixteen feature films in Official Competition competing for the Golden Shell Award, including the following titles :-

* 'Conclave' - from the UK and USA, this psychological thriller is Directed by Edward Berger and starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini. 

* 'Emmanuelle' - from France and is an erotic drama Directed by Audrey Diwan and starring Noemie Merlant and Naomi Watts.

* 'The End' - is an European Co-Produced post-apocalyptic musical film Directed by Joshua Oppenheimer and starring Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon, George MacKay, Tim McInnerny and Lennie James.

* 'Hard Truths' - from the UK and Spain this drama film is Written and Directed by Mike Leigh and starring Marianne Jean-Baptiste.

* 'The Last Showgirl' - from the USA and this drama is Directed by Gia Coppola and starring Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis and Dave Bautista. 

* 'I'm Nevenka' - from Spain, this drama is Co-Written and Directed by Iciar Bollain and starring Mireia Oriol.

* 'The Wailing' - from Spain, Portugal and France, this psychological horror film is Co-Written and Directed by Pedro Martin-Calero and starring Ester Exposito and Mathilde Ollivier.

* 'When Fall Is Coming' - from France and Written and Directed by Francois Ozon, this drama stars Helene Vincent and Josiane Balasko.

In addition, the Donostia Award given every year to a number of Actors and filmmakers derives its name from Donostia, the Basque name of San Sebastian, with the 2023 Donostia Award winner Javier Bardem expected to receive the award this year as the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike prevented him from attending the 71st festival. This years awards go to the Australian Actress and Producer Cate Blanchett (as featured on the official promotional poster as above) and the Spanish film Director and Screenwriter Pedro Almodovar. 

For the full run down of those films in Official Competition, plus the other competitive strands, the full programme of films being showcased, and a whole lot of other good stuff, you can go to the official website at : https://www.sansebastianfestival.com/2024

This week then we have five new movies coming to your local big screen Odeon, kicking off with a body horror offering that follows a fading celebrity who decides to use a black market drug, a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself, unknowingly giving her horrifying side effects. Then we turn to a Sci-Fi thriller in which an astronaut struggles to maintain his grip on reality during a possibly fatally compromised mission to Saturn's moon, Titan; and this is followed by an Aussie family adventure film about a young girl and her adopted stray dog who try to win the Agility Course Championships at the Krumpets Dog Show in London so they can save the family farm. And closing out the week we have a pair of animated features, the first being an origin story of how once brothers-in-arms Orion Pax and D-16 become sworn enemies Optimus Prime and Megatron and finally, following a shipwreck, an intelligent robot becomes stranded on an uninhabited island, and in order to survive the harsh environment, it bonds with the island's animals and cares for an orphaned baby goose.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the five latest release new films as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead.

'THE SUBSTANCE' (Rated R18+) - this UK and French Co-Production is a body horror film Written, Co-Produced, Directed and Co-Edited by Coralie Fargeat in only her second feature film outing following her 2017 debut with 'Revenge'. This film screened in the Palme d'Or main competition at this years Cannes Film Festival, where Fargeat won the award for Best Screenplay. It is released here in Australia, the US and the UK from this week and in France from 6th November, with early reviews giving it a universal acclaim rating.

Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore), renowned for a popular TV aerobics show, faces a devastating blow on her 50th birthday as her boss fires her. Following a car crash in which she is hospitalised and amid her distress, a young nurse offers her a black market substance which promises to transform her into an enhanced version of herself. After some deliberation, Elisabeth orders the product, and a version of herself in her 20's (Margaret Qualley) is violently and quickly born from her body. What could possibly go wrong? Also starring Dennis Quaid. 

'SLINGSHOT' (Rated MA15+) - is an American Sci-Fi psychological thriller film Directed by the Swedish filmmaker Mikael Hafstrom whose prior feature film credits take in 'Derailed' in 2005, '1408' in 2007, 'Shanghai' in 2010, 'The Rite' in 2011, 'Escape Plan' in 2013, 'Outside the Wire' in 2021 and 'Stockholm Bloodbath' in 2023. This film follows an elite trio of astronauts - Captain Franks (Laurence Fishburne), John (Casey Affleck) and Nash (Tomer Capone) aboard a years-long, possibly compromised mission to Saturn's moon Titan. As the team gears up for a highly dangerous slingshot manoeuvre that will either catapult them to Titan or into deep space, it becomes increasingly difficult for one astronaut to maintain his grip on reality. Also starring Emily Beecham and David Morrissey. The film was released Stateside at the end of August, has so far grossed US$727K and has generated mixed or average reviews.

'RUNT' (Rated PG) - this Australian animal adventure family film is Directed by John Sheedy in only his second feature film offering following 2019's 'H is for Happiness'. This film, which is adapted from Craig Slivey's 2022 novel of the same name, follows the story of ten-year-old Annie Shearer (Lily LaTorre) and Runt, her stray dog, as they attempt to win the Agility Course Championship at the Krumpets Dog Show in London in order to save her parents Bryan (Jai Courtney) and Susie (Celeste Barber) farm in the outback town of Upson Downs, from drought, misery and a local landowner. Also starring Deborah Mailman and Jack Thompson.

'TRANSFORMERS ONE' (Rated PG) - is an American animated Sci-Fi action film based on Hasbro's 'Transformers' toy line. The film is Directed by Josh Cooley in only his second feature film Directorial outing following 'Toy Story 4' in 2019. This film serves as an origin story set on the planet Cybertron centring around the history of the Transformers race and the relationship between two Cybertronian workers named Orion Pax (voiced by Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (voiced by Brian Tyree-Henry) as they go from brothers-in-arms to archenemies as Optimus Prime and Megatron respectively. Also starring the voice talents of Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne and Jon Hamm. The film is released Stateside this week too. 

'THE WILD ROBOT' (Rated PG) - this American animated Sci-Fi survival film based on the book series of the same name by Peter Brown, produced by DreamWorks Animation and is Written and Directed by Chris Sanders, whose previous Directing efforts take in his 2002 debut with 'Lilo & Stitch' and which he would follow up with 'How to Train Your Dragon' in 2010, 'The Croods' in 2013 and 'The Call of the Wild' in 2020. This film follows the journey of a robot—ROZZUM unit 7134, 'Roz' (voiced by Lupita Nyong'o) for short, that is shipwrecked on an uninhabited island and must learn to adapt to the harsh surroundings, gradually building relationships with the animals on the island and becoming the adoptive parent of an orphaned gosling named Brightbill (voiced by Kit Connor). Also starring the voice work of Pedro Pascal, Catherine O'Hara, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Mark Hamill and Ving Rhames, the film is released in the US next week on 27th September and the UK on 18th October having seen its World Premiere screening at the Toronto International Film Festival on 8th September. 

With five new release movie offerings this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere at your local Odeon in the coming week.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-