It’s only mid-September, with a full quarter of 2024 left to go, but a bunch of movies from the past week are ready for the renewal, resolution, and workout routines of early January. A Different Man , The Substance , and Netflix’s Uglies are all movies about making fundamental, seemingly permanent changes to the body, in pursuit of a long-desired perfection. Call it New Year, New You cinema.
The Substance even climaxes on New Year’s Eve. Not all of this accidental body-modification trilogy is undertaken for pure vanity. A Different Man , an A24 release, starts off seeming perfectly reasonable: Edward (Sebastian Stan) is a man with neurofibromatosis, a condition that gives him benign but noticeable tumors all over his face.
(Cinephiles may recognize it from the man with the facial differences in Under the Skin , about which more in a moment.) Edward feels understandably uncomfortable in his own skin, and when he’s given the opportunity for an experimental new surgery that may eliminate his tumors, he jumps at it – perhaps too high. After the procedure proves successful, Edward impulsively does a hard reset on his life, using his complete lack of resemblance to his past self – he now looks like, well, Sebastian Stan – to get a new job, a new apartment, and a new identity, which includes re-introducing himself to his former neighbor Ingrid (Renate Reinsve).
Ingrid happens to have written a play based on her (somewhat ridiculous) impressions of Edward, and he gets .