Personally, I’m interested in the angle that says The Substance is a critique on consumer capitalism; the idea that a product can resolve the internal anguish that exists in all of us (or at least encourage it to form a homunculus that bursts from your spine).
It has the impetus of history behind it, with the chance to become the first horror movie to win best picture (some people say that was The Silence of the Lambs, I would say no, that was a police procedural).
It’s also a movie for movie lovers, from The Shining references to the Lynchian distortion of physical space, and one that once again encourages the viewer to think: what does this remind me of?
And a little something I wanted to get out of the way before going further into why Coralie Fargeat’s story of a middle-aged woman who will do anything to get a pert butt should win this year’s best picture award.
The former is a better argument for giving The Substance an Oscar, but the second would work too at a push: good art that is in bad taste?
