The Substance

I'm kind of at a loss about this movie. Obviously it has important things on its mind about aging and perception and self-love and many other things, but it's also cartoonish, grotesque in a way that I didn't like, full of caricatures trying to exist within the same world as real characters, and overly gory to the point of absurdity. Why did it need to be that gory? I don't think it did and found it detracting from the movie's point rather than supporting it. I'm not sure I can give this any more than a 5/10 because I admire its ambition, but I don't really think it's successful at being anything more than a cartoonish gore fest, and I liked it better when it was making intelligent observations about its subject. I admire any movie that takes a big swing, which this movie definitely does, but I don’t always give them grace when they fail with that swing. To me, I didn’t need any of the viscera in the finale, the point was already made because the point was to become monstrous in pursuit of perfection and beauty and youth. What does the gore actually say? Nothing, to me. The gore becomes “I’m doing this because I don’t actually believe in my ideas enough to feel the point was made so I’m hammering home everything while also making something that will thrill the horror crowd with gore” and since I’m not thrilled by it, the movie ends on its lowest note for me.