A different Man (aaron Shimberg)

A Different Man (directed by Aaron Shimberg, starring Adam Pearson)

I have had a relationship with Adam Pearson’s face for years; I should stress that I don’t know the man. I have some tenuous mutals on our feeds who I have not spoken to directly for years, but I have no personal acquaintance with him. I first became aware of his work as a disability campaigner during lockdown. I recall the BBC spoke to several people who had found a respite from scrutiny and judgement on their appearance and did not want to return to ‘the outside necessarily’.  It resonated. But from that is the cheap jealous side of me. The notion that sits there about my appearance and the comments it solicits, that thinks if I was ‘enough to be a special characteristic’ I would not get grief in my day. Its next to eh fact that i am overweight but its not severe enough to be medical, that if i was distinctly a person of colour rather then a mixed race ‘other’ that somehow people would not comment on me. Its a fantasy knee jerk notion that comes and goes in a moment. I never wanted to have blue eyes or a boney bum or a taller physique, qualities my brother Mycroft has in abundance; I just wanted bullshit to go away.

I had the opportunity to talk to Adam; once, I was at Sundance and saw him being affable and effervescent as he always is in the media, holding court at the industry brunch. I panicked and felt particularly bloated, too big to join him and his colleagues on the sofa and ran off to eat another bacon bagel by a bin. 

A different man takes the fantasy I alluded to, and it’s extreme. Sebastian’s fantastic character of Edward forced the question on me. “Ok, Rob, let’s take all ‘the bullshit’ as you say that you, and only you, apprently,  experience, and take it away…what would you do wiith yourself?’ 

An actor struggling to find work and living in a dilapidated apartment with a leaking ceiling, Edward’s life is a constant battle with avoidance and fear of intimacy. His struggles are all too familiar, making it hard not to empathize with him. The film effectively portrays the discomfort of his life, making his choices and the painful transformation he undergoes understandable. His new persona as ‘GUY’ is a manifestation of every adolescent’s dream of manhood, and its vulnerabilities soon become apparent. Sebastian Stan’s portrayal of Edward’s quiet fragility, which never truly disappears throughout the film, is compelling and relatable.

However, his infatuation with Ingrid, his neighbour, ensures we can see that Edwards’s view of the world is not totally self- obsession. Her turn as an enthusiastic saviour to practically industrial appropriator of his lived experience, denying Edwards existence while stealing his words right in front of his pretty face, is a cluster of a move that would be absurd and truly fantastical but for one thing. I recently learned about a role, ‘ethnically ambiguous man’ for a comedy sketch show. I didn’t get it. It went to a white anglo saxon protestant because he has a beard. I congratulated him and wish him the best. Then we wnet by a bin and ate another burger. Fuck off

Adam’s entrance, with the glitz, savoir-faire, and style that have become synonymous with him, completely disrupts Edward’s world. While it could be argued that Adam was born to play the character of Oswald, I believe it’s more about who he has been while doing ‘the work’ for years. The narrative spike and energy he brings to the story are tremendous. His character’s activities, such as yoga, karaoke, and trying a cravat, are all things that Edward, or I should say, I, can only dream of doing with such confidence.

While I have some reservations about the film, they are more like subtle undertones. The film admirably avoids the ‘ALL YOU NEED IS CONFIDENCE’ trap of films like ‘I Feel Pretty’, but it does flirt with it at times. Edward’s situation is not just about his appearance, but also about the degenerative effects on his eyes and ears, which are quickly brushed aside—a significant issue for me. Oswald, on the other hand, is financially independent and seemingly free from economic concerns, which brings class into the narrative as a subtext. However, the sheer hilarity of the third act, with Edward pitted against Oswald, had me in fits of laughter, despite the serious undertones.

Let’s be frank. It’s up against the Joker; it’s the film the Joker claims to be. This is where you should be spending your opening weekend money. Lady Gaga is an inspiration, but she does not need your ticket.