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We take a moment away from the 90s to share our thoughts on Coralie Fargeat's latest brash body-horror festival darling The Substance, starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley. It's a stylish, blunt provocation ostensibly targeting the oppressive brutality of patriarchal beauty standards that feels completely at odds with its own intentions, often reinforcing the very ideology it purports to be railing against.
We discuss the film's formal elements, and how they so frequently contradict the film's messaging. Then, we talk about the the movie's many (empty) reference points and why they are indiciative of the diminishing returns of a generation of filmmakers interested in aesthetic homage to great filmmakers without seriously contending with their themes. Finally, we consider some troubling rhetoric around who the movie is for, who "genuinely" understands it, and who is excluded from this understanding.
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish.