Saw this last night with a fairly full house, and I'd say fully a third did not know what they were in for. Behind me, a group of people (who I'm guessing were probably chemically altered for the experience) laughed uproariously as the film went on, like they were watching Young Frankenstein or, oh, I dunno ... Showgirls? It didn't quite ruin the experience, but they were guffawing directly at the back of my head and I wish I could do to them what happens to the audience in The Substance.
BTW, if there's a film criticism hall of fame, I nominate "Like the title of Moore’s best-loved film, the Substance gives her nothing but trouble." for zinger of the year.
Saw this one the week in came out. My one real complaint was that the ending could have been better. To avoid spoiling it, I'll just say that there were two fairly obvious endings that they could have gone with instead. I'll list them in a sub-comment so no one will have the minor spoiler of how it didn't end if they don't want it.
Then again, maybe the idea was to do something that no one would see coming.
1. Could have ended with Sue just falling apart on live TV, which is the ending that both my wife and I were thinking of.
2. Could have ended with Sue using the substance and her becoming the new throwaway has-been to a third version of herself, making a statement about what society and the industry will eventually do to Sue as well.
Seeing this in a packed theater was one of the greatest movie experiences of my life.
Saw this last night with a fairly full house, and I'd say fully a third did not know what they were in for. Behind me, a group of people (who I'm guessing were probably chemically altered for the experience) laughed uproariously as the film went on, like they were watching Young Frankenstein or, oh, I dunno ... Showgirls? It didn't quite ruin the experience, but they were guffawing directly at the back of my head and I wish I could do to them what happens to the audience in The Substance.
BTW, if there's a film criticism hall of fame, I nominate "Like the title of Moore’s best-loved film, the Substance gives her nothing but trouble." for zinger of the year.
Saw this one the week in came out. My one real complaint was that the ending could have been better. To avoid spoiling it, I'll just say that there were two fairly obvious endings that they could have gone with instead. I'll list them in a sub-comment so no one will have the minor spoiler of how it didn't end if they don't want it.
Then again, maybe the idea was to do something that no one would see coming.
1. Could have ended with Sue just falling apart on live TV, which is the ending that both my wife and I were thinking of.
2. Could have ended with Sue using the substance and her becoming the new throwaway has-been to a third version of herself, making a statement about what society and the industry will eventually do to Sue as well.