A DIFFERENT MAN at New Directors/New Films
by Jason Godbey
We first reported on A Different Man, the new film from writer/director by Aaron Schimberg, in our first podcast episode this year when it was announced it would premiere at Sundance Film Festival. We didn’t get to see it at Sundance, but it was recently press screened here in New York for the New Directors/New Films festival.
A Different Man is the story of Edward (Sebastian Stan), a man with a facial deformity who longs to be an actor. One day after a shoot, he meets Ingrid (Renate Reinsve) who is in the process of moving into the apartment next door to him. When she first sees him she recoils, but she quickly warms up to him. They form a connection: he’s an actor; she’s a playwright. Perhaps they’ll work together or perhaps there could be something more.
Edward’s life changes dramatically when he volunteers for a new drug treatment that will cure his deformity. I don’t want to say much about the plot because A Different Man is still on its festival run, and I believe the less one knows about the film going in, the better. To describe the movie in Hollywood terms, it’s Flowers for Algernon meets Dostoevsky’s The Double. It’s part fairy tale, part romance, and part satire, with a dash of Cronenbergian body horror thrown in for good measure. It’s surreal, shocking, and at times, darkly funny.
Although set in the very real world of New York City with some very genuinely New York characters, there is a sense of fantasy and unreality to the story. The treatment Edward undergoes is a “miracle cure.” It may as well be a magic potion. The magical realism employed masterfully by Schimberg allows the A Different Man to say all the things it wants to say about social conventions, prejudices based on physical appearance, and the need for acceptance and more without seeming overly preachy or heavy-handed.
A Different Man is full of surprises and strong performances from the ensemble. Stan is nothing short of remarkable as Edward. The film is told mainly from his perspective, and Stan carries much of the movie on his shoulders. It’s a nuanced performance we haven’t seen from him in previous outings. It’s a dual role in the sense that the character undergoes a dramatic change physically but then must cope mentally and emotionally, and we see how it weighs on him. The film walks a tenuous thread in its themes and tone, one that could easily have snapped if it weren’t for the strength of Stan’s performance holding it together.
A Different Man is a different kind of movie. It’s certainly not for everyone, but if you’re brave enough, and if what you’ve read here intrigues you, I highly recommend it. A Different Man will screen as part of the New Directors New Films festival here in New York City at Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art. For more information on screening times and tickets, visit the festival website: https://www.newdirectors.org/
Originally published at http://behindtherabbitproductions.wordpress.com on March 23, 2024.
