Demi Moore is fantastic in director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”—I guess? The actor has received tons of accolades for her unflinching turn in this satirical take on women aging in the entertainment industry. It’s a brave performance but it’s hard to really appreciate it, frequently obscured as it is by Fargeat’s bellicose direction, which loudly announces and belabors every thematic point it makes.
The first half, which works as a contemporary twist on “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” is a highly stylized, music video-like immersion in absurdity. The arch lens of Terry Gilliam’s “Brazil” comes to mind, except Fargeat’s manner is insanely didactic and really, really boring.
The second half becomes an extended indulgence in body horror, and not being a fan of that subgenre I feel unqualified to judge it. So the only comment I can really offer here is that it goes on for a long, long time, as if the director is determined to rub the audience’s faces in the grotesquerie of our collective ideals of female beauty. Does it go on too long? Probably. But again, if there’s a legit intellectual argument to be made for the value of just grossing the hell out of people, I’m not the one to make it. For what it’s worth, the vulgarity of Fargeat’s movie is far more interesting than the stylish set up that precedes it. I just wouldn’t want to watch any of this again.
Roundup
Here’s the full list of all twenty-one movies that I saw in September. This is the latest in my monthly round-ups of the movies I watch. You can also see everything I logged in August, in July, in June, in May, in April, in March, in February, in January, and summaries of everything I watched in 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016. Also, you can always keep up with what I’m watching by following me on Letterboxd—where I’m also writing tons of capsule reviews.
- “Drive” (2011) ★★★½
Rewatched. This is the last time Nicholas Winding Refn’s directorial voice was completely convincing. - “The Lady Eve” (1941) ★★★★★
Rewatched. No matter how many times I see this Preston Sturges masterpiece, every plot twist, every character beat, every sideways glance from this incredible cast of one-of-a-kind mugs and dames is a complete surprise. - “Dave” (1993) ★★★★
Rewatched. A normal guy accidentally becomes POTUS. Made in the 90s but as fanciful, corny, open hearted—and wonderful—as something from Hollywood’s golden age. - “La Chimera” (2023) ★★★★
Rewatched. Spent a lot of this viewing admiring the craft, the changes in aspect ratio and film stock, and the expert layering of visual motifs and thematic hints throughout. - “The Nest” (2020) ★★½
Jude Law and Carrie Coon in a glossy melodrama about how aspirations to wealth tear a family apart. It neither goes anywhere surprising nor unearths anything revealing about greed, ambition or its 1980s setting. - “Prometheus” (2012) ★½
Rewatched. I remembered this “Alien” prequel was dumb and it’s still dumb (like, really dumb!) but I had forgotten how slick the production design is. As dumb as it is, it looks just as great. - “Rebel Ridge” (2024) ★★★★
Director Jeremy Saulnier, of “Blue Ruin” and “Green Room,” gives us his take on a Jack Reacher tale. An uncommonly judicious revelation of an action movie. - “Lady Bird” (2017) ★★★½
Rewatched. There’s enough that this movie gets right that it can be easy to overlook how much of it is pretty rote and underdeveloped. That’s less true on a second watch, I found. - “The Palm Beach Story” (1942) ★★★
I watched this in an effort to recapture some of that spark from “The Lady Eve,” and it feels like director Preston Sturges was trying to do the same. - “The Devil (Probably)”” (1977) ★★★
First of all, terrific title for this deep dive into nihilism by Robert Bresson. The movie itself is occasionally fascinating but often looks and feels like dramatic posing in the style of fashion magazine ads. - “They All Laughed” (1981) ★★½
Director Peter Bogdanovich tries his hand at a madcap romantic comedy where everyone is in love with everyone else. Frustrating. - “The Substance” (2024) ★★½
This satire of the fight against aging makes for a dynamite theater experience, mostly when it turns into an ecstatic indulgence in body horror. But overall it’s not a great movie. - “Easy Street” (1917) ★★★½
An early Charlie Chaplin short that dives into poverty and policing, but hilarious. - “The Adventurer” (1917) ★★★
Charlie Chaplin combines two set pieces in one and goes from convict to country club. - “Polite Society” (2023) ★★
A UK-set, South Asian take on a “Crazy Rich Asians”-style cultural romp, a “Scott Pilgrim”-style action comedy, and a “Get Out”-style horror satire. It really has no idea what it’s doing most of the time. - “Rebel Ridge” (2024) ★★★★
Rewatched. Lost a bit of its electricity on second viewing but the tapestry of its story is even richer. - “Witness for the Prosecution” (1957) ★★★½
Very entertaining if a bit hokey courtroom drama from the pen of Agatha Christie. The real pleasure is Charles Laughton’s performance: haughty, extravagant, delightful. - “And Then There Were None” (1945) ★★★½
An early adaptation of Agatha Christie’s best story that runs just ninety-six minutes but still somehow feels more satisfying than most contemporary movies manage with runtimes of two-plus hours. - “The Verdict” (1982) ★★★★½
Rewatched. A finely calibrated courtroom drama written by David Mamet, directed by Sidney Lumet and starring a rundown Paul Newman in one of his best roles, with a phenomenal closing monologue. - “The Battle of Algiers” (1966) ★★★★
Searing, indelible portrait of the horrors of a revolution. - “Blade Runner 2049” (2017) ★★★★
Rewatched. The more I watch this, the more I realize how much better it is than the original—by just about every measure. Except for having a terrible Jared Leto performance.