April 7/Washington, D.C.: Media Services New York presents Feature/Television and Commercial Software Demos at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. Contact Steve Bizenov, (212) 366-9390A.April 9/Hollywood: the Music Video Production Association (MVPA) Annual Awards Program. Info, call Justine Smith, (323) 660-9311A.April 13/New York: Freelance Producers Network meeting at @radical.media. Contact Becky Slattery, (212) 462-1500A.April 17-22/Las Vegas: NAB A99: The Convergence Marketplace. Info, (202) 429-5419 or www.nab.org/conventions/nab99/…. April 25-27/ Carlsbad, Calif.: The First Annual Entertech Conference on new technologies and issues shaping entertainment production, postproduction, marketing and distribution. For details, (877) 223-9753….May 5: London: The 37th Annual British Design & Art Direction Awards. Info, 44 (171) 840-1111 or www.dandad.org…May 6/Miami: 6th Annual Anti Film Festivals Animation Station. Contact Noreen Legault, (305) 674-9998A.May 15-16/Minneapolis: AICP Commercial Production training seminars. Contact Jennifer Jacovsky, (212) 420-8900A.May 17, 19 and 21/Dallas: AICP Commercial Production training seminars. Contact Jennifer Jacovsky, (212) 420-8900A.June 10-15/Montreux, Switzerland: Montreux Symposium 99 looking at the challenges arising from digital and HD technology. For info, call 41 (21) 963-3220 or email message@symposia. ch….July 13-19/Sydney, Australia: SMPTE 99 Conference at the Darling Harbour Exhibition and Convention Center. Info, 61 (2) 99.77.08.88 or www.exevents. com.au….August 8-13/Los Angeles: SIGGRAPH 99 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Info, Sheila Hoffmeyer or Ann Kilhoffer, (312) 644-6610, fax: (312) 245-1083, or email media-s99@siggraph.orgA.Sept. 24-27/New York: The 107th AES Convention at the Jacob K. Javits Center. Contact AES, (212) 661-8528 or www.aes.org…. Oct. 21-23/Mumbai (Bombay), India: Broadcast India 99 Exhibition & Symposium at the World Trade Centre. Info, (91-22) 215 1396, 215 2721 or www.saicom.com/broadcastindiaA.
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
The one rule to follow is that... Read More