by Cain Noble-Davies
Worth: $16.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Sebastian Stan, Adam Pearson, Renate Reinsve
Intro:
… unsettling and downright hilarious with equal sharpness …
Passing is an ugly word. From a certain perspective, there’s a logic to it: Getting to the point where society doesn’t immediately prejudice someone based on their Otherness. But the reality of it involves a lot of homogenisation, suppression, and generally treating that Otherness only as it pertains to everyone else, rather than the Other in question. And even without only considering the observers, there’s also the psychological effect on that Other. The imposition, both within and without, that they need to be something other than themselves just to exist.
A Different Man, the new feature from Chained for Life writer/director Aaron Schimberg, takes this notion to its logical conclusion: Edward (Sebastian Stan) going through an experimental medical treatment, ‘fixing’ his neurofibromatosis and giving him the face of… well, Sebastian Stan. The prosthetics work plays into the Oscar-bait expectations of an abled actor taking a role like this, only to go full Cronenberg with how gruesomely realistic it turns out.
Stan’s performance is just as brilliant, further staking his claim as the rare actor to make it out of the MCU with his character skills intact. Not only does he breeze through the prolonged social awkwardness and later seething resentment, he also lets himself merge completely with what is ultimately a thoroughly unlikable character. Daring on its own, given that disabled characters aren’t typically allowed to be unsavoury in the mainstream (a variant of political correctness that can come across as infantilising), but also a point-of-view that gives this psycho-drama a consistent vein of dark comedy.
And then Adam Pearson appears. Well, not so much appear as surf in on a wave of pure charisma, refocusing the horror of what Edward has done to himself (and others) by giving another terrific display of the beauty of authenticity. The film even manages to weaponize how captivating he is as a performer, applying pressure to the existential nightmare Edward continues to sink into by serving as the beacon of light shining on Edward’s Dostoevskian identity crisis.
However, it eventually reaches a point where the whole exercise starts to feel meanspirited. It’s worthwhile to highlight both the humour and the horror in seeing an Other gain social capital, only to use it to try and hold back those just like themselves. But once the runtime exceeds that of Chained for Life, it feels like the point has been made as brutally clear as possible, and then he’s just being kicked while he’s unable to get back up. Compared to something like I Saw the TV Glow, another horror story about the tragedy of not accepting the self, it leans more into misanthropy than empathy, which gives it a bitter aftertaste.
Then again, the extent of its venom also contributes to a veritable parade of knowing guffaws about the entertainment industry’s history with passing performances, Otherness as an accessory that can be picked up and dropped when convenient, and how cosmetic surgery can’t fix a broken personality. To quote battle rapper Rapunsell: “There ain’t a paper bag big enough to cover up your life decisions”.
A Different Man shows Aaron Schimberg continue to build on the artistic idea of the abled gaze, providing a challenging but rewarding portrait of a man in a hell of his own design. Even its more troubling dimensions as a piece of art still lead to interesting questions about representation, empathy, and what audiences have come to accept as being ‘normal’ about media. It approaches being unsettling and downright hilarious with equal sharpness, and it gives Adam Pearson another chance to positively beam on the big screen. Quite frankly, that last part is worth the price of admission all on its own.
