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A Different Man -
One of my favorite quotes from Cinema Paradiso is "progress always comes too late." What happens if it comes too early? This is a hilariously odd comedy in the same vein as Charlie Kaufman's best that examines our relationship with our looks. Would-be actor and neurofibromatosis sufferer Edward is so ready to not feel shy or insecure about his appearance anymore that he volunteers for an experimental procedure. For better or worse, it ends up working too well: I mean, he turns into Sebastian Stan! While Edward's life gets easier in some ways, his insecurities do not exactly disappear. Not only does his comely playwright neighbor, Ingrid (Reinsve), start casting calls for her play, which as luck would have it happens to be about his former life, someone comes along who...I'll just say would not undergo that procedure.
In case you didn't know Sebastian Stan is not just the Winter Soldier, this movie proves it. He's been cocksure (Motley Crue's Tommy Lee), devious (Robinhood CEO Vladimir Tenev), and with this role, he can add shy, insecure as well as petty to his resume. None of these words describe his "friend" and rival for the play's lead, Oswald (Adam Pearson, who really has neurofibromatosis), with some of the best laughs coming from the endless ways he is who Edward wishes he could be. Tying everything together is Ingrid, who is also very funny for how she makes you wonder if her intentions in writing a play about neurofibromatosis are noble or if she's just a fetishist. On top of all this great acting, there's Umberto Smerilli's mournful jazz score and New York vibes so strong, you can smell the taxi exhaust. It ends up being the kind of indie oddity I love, not just for how it proves that a beautiful face, whether it's old or new, is still attached to the rest of you, but also because I still laugh when I think about it days later. Now, you may be wondering how this compares to that other 2024 movie about body transformation, The Substance. Unfortunately, as of writing this, I haven't seen it. However, that won't stop me from also referring to this movie as "The Seb-stance."
One of my favorite quotes from Cinema Paradiso is "progress always comes too late." What happens if it comes too early? This is a hilariously odd comedy in the same vein as Charlie Kaufman's best that examines our relationship with our looks. Would-be actor and neurofibromatosis sufferer Edward is so ready to not feel shy or insecure about his appearance anymore that he volunteers for an experimental procedure. For better or worse, it ends up working too well: I mean, he turns into Sebastian Stan! While Edward's life gets easier in some ways, his insecurities do not exactly disappear. Not only does his comely playwright neighbor, Ingrid (Reinsve), start casting calls for her play, which as luck would have it happens to be about his former life, someone comes along who...I'll just say would not undergo that procedure.
In case you didn't know Sebastian Stan is not just the Winter Soldier, this movie proves it. He's been cocksure (Motley Crue's Tommy Lee), devious (Robinhood CEO Vladimir Tenev), and with this role, he can add shy, insecure as well as petty to his resume. None of these words describe his "friend" and rival for the play's lead, Oswald (Adam Pearson, who really has neurofibromatosis), with some of the best laughs coming from the endless ways he is who Edward wishes he could be. Tying everything together is Ingrid, who is also very funny for how she makes you wonder if her intentions in writing a play about neurofibromatosis are noble or if she's just a fetishist. On top of all this great acting, there's Umberto Smerilli's mournful jazz score and New York vibes so strong, you can smell the taxi exhaust. It ends up being the kind of indie oddity I love, not just for how it proves that a beautiful face, whether it's old or new, is still attached to the rest of you, but also because I still laugh when I think about it days later. Now, you may be wondering how this compares to that other 2024 movie about body transformation, The Substance. Unfortunately, as of writing this, I haven't seen it. However, that won't stop me from also referring to this movie as "The Seb-stance."