NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: A24 Blu-ray (August 2025): A24 have transferred Aaron Schimberg's A Different Man to Blu-ray. It is on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate and faithfully capturing the gritty aesthetic of its Super 16mm film origins on Kodak stock. The 1080P image exhibits heavy natural grain, reflecting the intentional "dingy New York" vibe, with excellent detail in close-ups - such as the intricate prosthetics and fabric textures - though wider shots and low-light scenes can appear softer or denser, with small specks and marks adding to the organic feel. Colors lean toward a muted amber and teal palette, evoking a "golden hour" timing that's somewhat lifeless but thematically appropriate, avoiding digital artifacts like jagged edges or halos for a solid, if not stunning, presentation that suits the indie film's raw, unpolished style. The HD presentation cane be reminiscent of 1970s and 1980s American independent cinema, evoking a sense of raw authenticity and temporal dislocation that mirrors the protagonist Edward's fractured self-perception.

NOTE: We have added 54 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, A24 use a robust Dolby Atmos 7.1 track (24-bit) in the original English language. It provides an immersive yet understated soundscape that aligns with the film's introspective narrative. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and naturally throughout, with Umberto Smerilli's (Worldly Girl) melancholic score - featuring lustrous strings and clarinet motifs - benefiting from good stereo separation and occasional rear-channel engagement for ambient effects like thunderstorms or city noise. While not overly aggressive with height channels or showy surround elements, the mix creates a decent sense of place with accurate, full-bodied effects and music punch, supplemented by an English Descriptive Audio track. A24 offer optional English (SDH) or Spanish subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

NOTE: For Atmos many non-compliant systems will recognizes it as TrueHD 7.1, but from Wikipedia: "Because of limited bandwidth and lack of processing power, Atmos in home theaters is not a real-time mix rendered the same way as in cinemas. The substream is added to Dolby TrueHD or Dolby Digital Plus. This substream only represents a losslessly encoded fully object-based mix. This substream does not include all 128 objects separated. This is not a matrix-encoded channel, but a spatially-encoded digital channel. Atmos in home theaters can support 24.1.10 channel, but it is not an object-based real-time rendering. Filmmakers need to remix and render the TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus soundtracks with Dolby Media Producer."

The extras package on this A24 Blu-ray are insightful, headlined by an audio commentary track featuring writer-director Aaron Schimberg alongside stars Sebastian Stan and Adam Pearson, offering thoughtful discussions on the film's themes of identity and production challenges. The 20-minute "About Face: Making A Different Man" featurette delves into the creative process, including interviews and behind-the-scenes footage, while the 1/4 hour "A.D.M. B.T.S." Super 8 set documentation by John Klacsmann provides an experimental, artistic glimpse into the shoot's atmosphere. Four deleted and extended scenes (totaling less than 5 minutes) offer brief additional context without major revelations, and the set includes six collectible postcards with movie photos and script excerpts.

Aaron Schimberg's A Different Man is a genre-blending psychological drama that fuses elements of dark comedy, body horror, and satire to explore profound questions about identity, self-perception, and societal expectations. Drawing from Schimberg's personal experiences with a cleft palate, the narrative critiques the commodification of disability in art while delivering a twisted allegory on the futility of external change without internal growth. Symbolism abounds in the film's Kafkaesque absurdity: Edward's leaking ceiling mirrors his deteriorating mental state, while the prosthetic mask represents the performative nature of identity - a literal and metaphorical facade. The narrative's body horror elements, evoking films like The Elephant Man or Seconds, emphasize that unhappiness arises from non-acceptance, echoing Buddhist philosophy. Comparisons to Charlie Kaufman (Adaptation) and David Lynch (Eraserhead) abound, with surreal sequences - like an ice cream truck interrupting a suicide removal - evoking absurd black comedy. Overall, the A24 Blu-ray of A Different Man delivers a technically competent home video release that honors the film's indie roots with strong video and audio fidelity. The extras provide valuable context making it a worthwhile pickup for admirers of Aaron Schimberg's provocative work (Chained For Life,) earning solid marks for its faithful transfer and supplementary content in a DigiPack edition that stands as a fine addition to any A24 collection. A highly interesting film. Recommended.  

Gary Tooze