Our top pick this week, director Coralie Fargeat’s horror film “The Substance,” will compete in the Musical or Comedy category at the Golden Globes. Some viewers were scandalized that a film as gross and shocking could be considered a comedy, while others understood that even if “The Substance” isn’t exactly laugh-out-loud funny, its commentary on beauty standards and its gruesome, over-the-top excess make it a satire. Movies can be more than one thing at a time!
“The Substance” stars Demi Moore in what many critics have said is the best performance of her career as Elisabeth, a 50-year-old actress whose career is in decline. She begins taking a mysterious serum called the Substance, which causes a “younger, more beautiful, more perfect” sort of clone of herself (Margaret Qualley) to grow out of her back. The bodies share one consciousness, and Elisabeth has to alternate weeks in each body while the other replenishes. If she stays too long in the young body, the old one will die, and then the young one will die, too. But when their symbiotic relationship breaks down over mutual resentment, things get really out of hand. “The Substance” is one of the grossest wide-release movies you’ll ever see, and it’s now available on the streaming platform of its distributor, MUBI.
Here are some other movies to stream this weekend:
“Janet Planet”: Emmy winner Julianne Nicholson stars in this intimate A24 slice of life as a hippieish single mother raising 11-year-old daughter Lacy (Zoe Ziegler) in Western Massachusetts in 1991. It’s a nice little movie about the complex bond between mother and daughter that features naturalistic performances from Nicholson and Ziegler. Writer-director Annie Baker was just nominated for a Gotham Award for her screenplay. “Janet Planet” is streaming on Max.
“Martha”: Netflix’s latest celebrity documentary covers the colorful life of Martha Stewart, an only-in-America story: the first self-made female billionaire, who went to prison for crimes related to insider trading that she committed but was still unfairly targeted for, who has endured to become of America’s most beloved cultural figures, who’s still fabulous at 81. The doc is directed by R.J. Cutler, who recently won an Emmy for making “Elton John: Never Too Late.”
“Despicable Me 4”: Kids love the Minions. Adults love the Minions too, but kids really love them. They’re back in the fourth installment of Illumination’s hit animated comedy franchise that follows reformed supervillain Gru (Steve Carell), his kids, and his Minions. This time, Gru has to protect his family from his old nemesis, Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferrell). It’s now streaming on Peacock.
