Music Review // Thinestra (2025)

  When I saw this film pop up on BloodStream, I read the description and thought this sounded a little bit like "The Substance".   What in fact this film is though, isn't quite like "The Substance" at all.  I found one of the main themes of "The Substance" to be about wanting to maintain that youth in Hollywood, but the themes in "Thinestra" aren't centered around Hollywood as much as they can be universal ideas that anyone can likely relate with, as it is about body image and I feel like most people struggle with that on some level.

"Thinestra" works on two similar levels, but each level needs to be taken close note of.  First off, this film is about a woman who takes a drug that she hopes will help her lose weight.  As the weight begins to come off quickly, the actual pounds she is shedding turn into this clone of her in a way which reminds me of the Batman villain Clayface.   This, right away, feels like a vital message about Big Pharma.  This main character was on a diet in terms of watching what she ate, but also she went to spin class and yet still wasn't satisfied with the rate at which she was losing weight.  

As a sort of side note to this all, the only medicine that I take is over the counter, but if you're someone who is taking something which prescribed by a doctor I do not fault you.  I think in some ways when you look back to the 1980's and how steroids really took over professional wrestling, baseball, etc. one of the things which made them so bad was that not all of the side effects were known.  Now I feel like they should almost be less frowned upon because we know more of the side effects (and if you want to shorten your lifespan, that's your choice) although the idea of roid rage can make that a grey area.

That being said, I do feel like people are too quick to take drugs now which are not fully tested and that haven't been around long enough for anyone to truly know their side effects and even long term effects.  I'm not sure why medicine needs clever names and marketing, I've always felt like there should just be a number system or "Give him the drug for pain" type of deal with doctors, but I know it's because of the money involved.  That's why there are commercials for drugs that you should just be able to walk into a doctor and get *if you need them* not because you saw them on television and think your life would be better with them.

The drugs I have the most problems with are the ones that have the commercials that say they're to help depression, for example, and then the potential side effects include depression and suicidal thoughts.  How are you supposed to prevent something while also possibly causing it?  But at the same time, I guess it's better or just as bad as taking a drug for "clear skin" and having it cause depression.  I can't imagine- my arms no longer itch but now I want to end it all.  It's quite a big and perhaps unnecessary leap.  

Along with the idea of medications sometimes doing more harm than good, this film comes with a very strong message about body image as we are seen through the eyes of others as well as ourselves.  The main character appears to have issues with her mother and food, but also it's just the little things of going to work and being reminded that you're not skinny.  This is one of those things that comes with eating disorders, which if you have not had an eating disorder you might not recognize how something you say to someone could be taken.  

In this film the main character Penny has a boss who seems to be constantly on her about eating, but he does also seem like a bit of an asshole.  That boss, by the way, is played by the amazing Brian Huskey, who is the only actor in this film that I recognize from other things.  But I do feel like we need to have a larger conversation about how people who are fat are perceived by the world, but also how they are perceived by themselves.  I think when she becomes thinner, Penny gains some confidence, but to have that confidence when you are fat is still something which is possible.

To that extent, outside of her jerk of a boss at work, Penny does have a neighbor named Josh who seems interested in her even before she becomes skinny, so I think that kind of shows that even if you don't feel like you're enough or you should be dating because of how you look physically, maybe you can still be desirable to the right person.  This is all also just so intertwined with the idea that people should connect on a mental and spiritual level before they connect physically, but that dives even deeper into the film.

"Thinestra" also has this really fun way of setting all of this around Christmas.  It is the holidays and so things which come with that are holiday parties- and eating- as well as the way that most people see these diets as resolutions for the new year rather than commitments.  So I think the way that it is set around this time is fitting, just because people aren't always surrounded by food and resolutions as much as, say, in the summer.

One of perhaps the most fun and best parts about this film is that when the main character goes through the weight change, it is not a matter of simply altering the appearance of the main actress.  "Thinestra" has sisters playing the lead, where the first appearance of Penelope is portrayed by Melissa Macedo and later when she becomes Penny she is portrayed by Michelle Macedo.  Penny becomes the thinner, more daring side of Penelope and, oh yeah, she is also very hungry.

This film gets quite brutal, as Penny has this neverending hunger and does what she can to get food- going through the trash for example- but sometimes she also just ends up eating those around her, like her asshole boss.  What makes this so fascinating is that you think there is this actual second person (and, as an actor, there is) who is made out of the disgarded fat, but at the end Penelope admits to her friend that she was the one who did the crimes, making it feel more like the drug took over her and turned her into someone else that she wasn't in control of.

You could make a pretty solid case that Penny and Penelope are different characters, but you could also conclude that they are one and the same.  The way that this film can not only make you think about things that way, but just knowing every little underlying thing in "Thinestra" about Big Pharma, body image and all that goes with it, this just feels like such an important movie that people need to have discussions about and it's just a bloody fun time.