The Substance & A Different Man

Movie: The Substance

Running Time: 2:20

Nominated for: Best Picture, Directing, Actress, Original Screenplay, Make Up & Hair

How I watched: AMC A List

When it had me: Vibrant Production Design

When it lost me: A lot

What systems does it challenge: Ageism, Beauty Standards, Health Care in America

AND

Movie: A Different Man

Running Time: 1:52

Nominated for: Make Up & Hair

How I watched: Max

When it had me: ?

When it lost me: I started falling asleep 10 minutes in

What systems does it challenge: No idea

The Substance and A Different Man have a weird resonance between them. Both storylines deal with actors' appearances. In A Different Man the main character is severely facially deformed and in The Substance, Demi Moore is even worse off because she is getting older. Both films have a magical sort of experimental drug that helps at first but then has unexpected outcomes. And both employ a fair amount of body horror.

The Substance got so many big nominations and I'm confused about it. Is it just that we love Demi Moore and her bravery for talking about aging? It has been patiently explained to me over the years that Oscar just doesn't favor films from my favorite genre, horror. Maybe if something as amazing as Get Out comes along they might give it a nod for writing but never more than that! Until now.

This movie is beloved by the academy AND the horror community and I just didn't get it. I think I might struggle with French film makers right now? We're not seeing eye to eye.

Ok, what is there to like? It is a satisfying "Be Careful What You wish For Tale" for the most part. The audience knows the main character is on a fool's errand the whole time and you just get to watch it fail. There is a nice balance between horror and humor. The acting is great from both leads.

That sounds like a lot of upside. But also? Nothing makes sense! First and foremost I couldn't figure out what the upside to the whole gimic was. You get to make a younger version of yourself but your older version doesn't remember any of the fun. Why would you do this?

The medical procedures involved in using the substance are kind of intricate. You can sell me on a magical birthing in a fantastical movie like this but then you lose me again when a person just knows how to suture up a body-splitting wound or correctly begin an IV with no training. It doesn't work like that!

You're going to ask me to believe this beloved celebrity is the biggest star on a network in Hollywood and then tell me that they don't have their own bathroom? It doesn't work like that!

When trying to hide a body is it possible for an amateur carpenter to cut a hole in a random wall, discover a huge black-painted space behind the wall and then with a couple of random tools, do such a masterful job completing this space that it effortlessly becomes a secret room that no one can see? No! It doesn't work like that!

I really need my writing to make sense and I'm mystified by these choices.

Eventually the movie works its way to INSANE ORGANIC BLOOD SPRINKLER, but that's all I'm saying because I don't want to spoil the most unhinged climax to an Oscar nominee ever!

I enjoyed this movie ok. I certainly like my films weird as shit but I don't understand the level of love for a movie that did not stand apart from so many really great horror movies that I think are better made.

Now I can take you to the world of A Different Man. Fewer nominations but also insanely weird. This move was very slow and had some jazzy little music score that put me right to sleep. I sat up on the edge of my rental couch and slumped over asleep. I tried snacks and a different chair and playing games on my phone. Asleep. So I saw what I saw in small bits and I'm no doubt missing some of it. Not an optimal screening, but when trauma exhaustion hits you, what can you do?

I'll just describe this to you, because, let's be honest, you're not going to watch it. Sebastian Stan is fine as an aspiring actor with severe facial deformity. He connects with a playwright neighbor who seems to dig him but also can't get past the face. So he gets the magic drug (like in The Substance) and now he looks like Sebastian Stan. Things start to go better, he reconnects with the playwright (he is pretending to be someone else) and decides to play the part of the deformed man in her play, a character which is based on him. You follow me?

Then another guy with the same condition enters the scene. (This character is played by an actor who actually has the real condition.) The difference with the new guy is he has an english accent and confidence so he gets the girl, the part in the show, the friends and adoration of everyone while, Sebastian Stan gets squat.

I guess the message is you can change your face but you better also learn an english accent if you want your life to change for the better.

There are meta themes addressed about whether an actor should pretend to have a condition in order to play a role or an actor with the condition should be sought out. These are interesting questions that I can never come to my own solid opinion on and this was my favorite aspect of the film. I don't know if they resolves it because I kept falling asleep.

I think it's interesting that these two movies deal with actors radically transforming their looks. Add in Emilia Perez, which is different as it is a trans story but also someone altering their appearance dramatically. I feel like Hollywood is maybe working through some stuff?