A guy walks out of laundromat, a hamper full of clothes in hand. Suddenly he’s whisked away by a giant, skyscraper-tall creature, with the hamper and scattered clothes all that’s left behind in the street.
Next up is a newsstand which has drawn a crowd of people and a dog. In the blink of an eye, all the people are gone, with just the canine still in view. Again, the larger than life creature is the culprit–a closer look reveals this body to be comprised of hundreds, if not thousands of people who have been swept away as if irresistibly magnetized to its frame.
More victims are in the offing, including folks gathered for a rooftop barbecue. But as the ever growing being lumbers through the city, sucking up all humanity in its wake, its doom is about to be met around the corner. Nestled there is a corner bar/cafe in which people are drinking Miller Lite.
Upon seeing the Miller Lite, our original laundromat guy say, “You know, actually I’ll have a Miller Lite.” Once he utters that request, he breaks free to rejoin the human race. Others follow suit and the other worldly creature is dismantled person by person out of existence.
A voiceover explains, “There are those who stick with the crowd and there are those who go for more–more taste, never watered down. Miller Lite. Good call.”
“Break From the Crowd” was directed by Zack Snyder of bicoastal/international Believe Media for Crispin Porter+Bogusky, Miami. Method Studios, Santa Monica did the visual effects.
Gerard Cantor exec produced for Believe with Kendall Henry serving as producer. The DP was Matt Mania.
The agency team included chief creative officer Alex Bogusky, creative directors Tim Roper and Paul Keister, associate creative director/copywriter Mike Howard, associate creative director/art director Kevin Koller and exec producer Matt Bonin.
Editor was Noah Herzog of Rock Paper Scissors, Los Angeles.
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