MARIA Review, NIGHTBITCH Review, THE SUBSTANCE Review — 3 Best Actress Noms?

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Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Maria review, Nightbitch review and The Substance review says Angelina Jolie, Amy Adams and Demi Moore outperform their films, and could well be nominated.

Maria Review

Maria review, Nightbitch review and The Substance ReviewSumptuous and stylish as a film based on the life of opera star Maria Callas should be, Maria, Chilean director Pablo Larraín’s latest film about iconic, misunderstood women (Jackie and Spencer came before), is more sensory driven than story driven. The plot and pacing are secondary to the sentiments the film evokes—and this is not a bad thing.

There’s not an actress alive today who could have played the role better than Angelina Jolie. She trained in classical opera for months before the film began, in order to realistically appear to be singing when Callas’s voice was dubbed, and also to sound like the diva at the end of her life, when everything seemed to be failing her.

We find the elegant diva in her final days in 1977 Paris. She’s living in isolation with two dedicated servants. She is a bit drug addled and hallucinogenic, as she reminisces over the highs and lows of her storied life. At age 53, her legendary voice has faltered, public adoration has lapsed, scandals have overwhelmed her career, and her true love and long time partner Aristotle Onassis (Turkish actor Haluk Bilginer) has dumped her for Jackie Kennedy.

The sets, the costumes, the overall art direction and the cinematography are all dazzling. The film has a rich, waking dream feeling to it. It’s not for those who prefer action and quick pacing, but for those who like to linger in melancholy beauty.

Rated R

2 Hours 3 Minutes

Nightbitch Review

Maria review, Nightbitch review and The Substance ReviewSix-time Oscar nominee Amy Adams plays a lonely, unfulfilled stay-at-home mother who gave up a promising art career to take care of her young son. Sure he’s adorable, but, as almost all mothers agree, raising young children can be mind numbing and frustrating.

So frustrating, in fact, that fantasies of escaping the mundane life can become overwhelming. Adams’ character seems to be morphing into a dog, with sharpening canine teeth, coarse hair patches and a tail. She’s developing a taste for raw meat and finds herself running with the pack at night, digging and frolicking. If it’s a dream, why is she  coming home in the wee hours covered with dirt?

The title and the hype for this film are misleading. This is not about a terrifying housewife/werewolf. It’s far more benign than that. What it’s really about is the challenge of professional women trying to adjust to her new identity as a mother. It’s a new twist on an old theme that every mother identifies with, and many of the rest of us react to with ennui.

Gifted director Marielle Heller (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Can You Ever Forgive Me? The Diary of a Teenage Girl) has handled headier material with much more depth. If it weren’t for the language and nudity, this could almost pass for a Hallmark movie.

And yet, Adams’ performance is getting quite a bit of awards attention. Granted, she is convincing as a frustrated mother who turns into a dog at night. Perhaps the seventh time’s the charm.

Rated R

1 Hour 38 Minutes

The Substance Review

Maria review, Nightbitch review and The Substance ReviewI think it’s safe to say you’ve never seen a movie quite like The Substance, even if it does have whiffs of The Picture Dorian Gray splattered amongst the spewing blood and gore. It puts the grisliest of horror movies to shame, but believe it or not, the film is not without its virtues.

Demi Moore plays Elizabeth Sparkle, an actress and TV aerobics instructor with a star on the Walk of Fame. Alas, she has aged out, and her outrageously obnoxious producer, played maniacally by Dennis Quaid, is seeking to replace her.

When she comes across a mysterious process that will allow a younger, more beautiful clone of herself to trade places with her every other week, Elizabeth is at first reluctant to use it, but at last succumbs to temptation. A simple injection incites her nubile, Venus-like alter self (Margaret Qualley) to bloodily emerge from her spine. What happens when the two Elizabeths ignore and abuse the standard procedures is beyond their (and the audience’s) wildest nightmares.

The outrageously original Coralie Fargeat both wrote and directed The Substance, using clever camera angles and an engaging, almost sophisticated, cartoonish vibe. The film feels fresh in a garish sort of way, inspiie of, or perhaps because of, the boundary breaking horrors that ensue.

Yes, there are plenty of images you wish you could unsee. I am particularly disturbed by the vision of a monster vomiting up a boob. But these grotesqueries seem irresistible to some critics. The Substance has been nominated for Critics Choice Awards for Best Picture, and Moore has been nominated for Best Actress by my colleagues. They were not on the list I submitted for nominees.

Rated R

2 Hours 21 Minutes

If the Maria review, Nightbitch review or The Substance review encourage you to catch a glimpse, the first two are currently in theaters, and the latter you can find streaming and on Amazon Prime and on MUBI.

Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Maria review, Nightbitch review and The Substance review says Angelina Jolie, Amy Adams and Demi Moore outperform their films, and could well be nominated.

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Lisa Johnson Mandell

Lisa Johnson Mandell is an award winning journalist, author and film/TV critic. She can be heard regularly on Cumulus radio stations throughout the US, and seen on Rotten Tomatoes. She is the author of three bestselling books, and spends as much of her free time as possible with her husband Jim and her jolly therapy Labradoodle Frankie Feldman.

1 Comments

  1. […] I get bored with genre films that rely more on blood, guts and gross out rather than on plot, (ie: The Substance). More gory than story. Wolf Man does not fall into that category. The characters are well […]

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