A Different Man (2024)
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A Different Man Movie Review
A Different Man is a 2024 psychological drama film directed by Aaron Schimberg and starring Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve and Adam Pearson. It’s an uneven, but well acted flick.
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“Oh my friend, you haven’t changed a bit“
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An aspiring actor undergoes a radical medical procedure to drastically transform his appearance. However, his new dream face quickly turns into a nightmare as he becomes obsessed with reclaiming what was lost. This movie is said to be a comedy when it clearly is not. It’s ironic for sure, but still not funny at all. It also ain’t a thriller because of its very slow pace. It’s a psychological drama that functions as a character study.
I did find its protagonist very well realized and his personality traits and issues are well explored. The movie is all about identity and how complicated this concept can be. It’s about inner versus outer beauty. It deals with deformity in a more grounded and complex instead of manipulative and/or sanitized manner, which was definitely appreciated by me.
Sebastian Stan had one hell of a year with this film and ‘The Apprentice’. Although I preferred him in the aforementioned biopic, he was also very well cast here and he delivered stellar work. Adam Pearson was also quite strong and it was nice seeing Renate Reinsve in an American film – her English accent is terrific and her performance is reliably great.
So yes, A Different Man has strong character development, acting and themes, but that doesn’t mean that it’s successful as a whole. I am talking about the overall plot that felt meandering, dragging and not as engaging as it should have been due to its weak structure, pacing and directing.
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The dialogue is great, but the movie way too often felt limited in its scope and never particularly cinematic to me. The technical aspects are inferior and the movie felt repetitious in the numerous scenes where the three discussed the same thing over and over again.
A Different Man is an interesting film about identity and deformity, one that benefited from very strong acting performances and solid characterization. All three of its performers delivered fine work here and the dialogue is great. However, the plot is slight, the pacing is too slow and too often the movie felt aimless and uncinematic.
My Rating – 3.5
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