4/5
Aaron Schimberg elevates his filmmaking to promising heights with his latest film A Different Man, casting him into the pot of independent directors to keep an eye on.
A Different Man’s plot follows Edward, an aspiring actor living with facial disfigurement from neurofibromatosis. While a kind-hearted, empathetic man, his condition leads him to live a solitary life, spending his time off work inside his apartment. His closest relationship is with his newly moved-in neighbour, Ingrid, an aspiring playwright who shows kindness towards Edward and draws inspiration from him. Following a visit with his doctor, Edward is presented with an experimental treatment capable of curing his condition, drastically transforming his face.
Upon agreeing to the procedure, Edward notices immediate differences in the way he interacts with the world. He abandons his acting pursuits for a career in real estate and becomes the face of a firm in the industry. Initially, the transition is seemingly the solution to his insecurities — that is, until he meets Oswald, another actor with the same facial condition except he oozes with self-confidence, charm and sociability. He’s known in bars, local venues and has several hobbies, each given their own attention in a single day, everything Edward doesn’t have. This makes Edward feel as though his life has been upstaged. It’s often darkly comedic, sometimes nightmarishly so, but still offers an abundance of substance to take away.
Sebastian Stan delivers one of his strongest performances to date in the film. He convincingly portrays someone looking at their new face for the first time, unrecognizable in his own eyes. Edward’s psychological spiral comes with several hiccups and emotional outbursts. Stan holds his attention on the role until a satisfying final scene.
Even given the unique conditions Edward experiences that lay the grounds for his transformation, it’s impossible not to see yourself in his struggle with sacrificing his identity. The suffocating, oppressive feeling of having your identity stripped away even after you’ve forsaken it for what you think you want could happen to anyone.
Pearson is a delight to watch as Oswald. Perhaps it is Stan’s emotionally potent and reactive performance that makes Oswald feel like a genuine threat to his livelihood, though it’s hard not to love the joy Pearson brings to his character.
A Different Man serves as a sharp satire on identity comparison. Schimberg morphs the narrative and tone of the film several times, though no matter what mask the film wears, its core questions and themes are kept close and reiterated constantly. Perhaps by the end, the film doesn’t fully tie itself together, burying the lead in the layers of satire and making communication with audiences difficult. For others, the beginning may be a weak point as well, as the film doesn’t begin to find its rhythm until the second act when it begins to mirror its questions back to the audience.
It is, nonetheless, a captivating film that offers a lot for audiences to reflect on and relate to. The execution of the film’s subject matter feels fully fleshed out in a captivating way. The storyline is easy enough to follow as well, making it easy to click with what the film is telling you. Schimberg knows exactly what he wants to pull from this film to make it stand out in a line of films about identity and beauty standards and accomplishes doing so. By the end, you’re left with a film full of excellent material to reflect on and revisit.