A Different Man (Aaron Schimberg, 2024). Writer-director Aaron Schimberg is somehow ruthless and empathetic at the same time with this feature about the ways people are confined when they project their self-judgement onto others. In A Different Man, Sebastian Stan plays Edward, an aspiring actor who retreats in to social reclusion because he has neurofibromatosis, which causes his face to be disfigured. After an experimental medical treatment causes him to painfully shed the tumors covering his face, he takes advantage of his new, unrecognizable, and traditionally handsome visage to adopt an entirely new life, sure that all his problems have been solved. Gradually, he comes to the realization that maybe his prior problems were attributable to something other than his appearance, in large part because of his experiences around Oswald (Adam Pearson) who lives with the same affliction with humor and ludicrous amount of charm. Stan is terrific in the role, dark and rascally, and Pearson swoops in and, fittingly, nearly steals the movie away. Schimberg’s film is filled with ingenious details, and takes its bleak humor to daring, logical ends.

Don’t Bother to Knock (Roy Ward Baker, 1952). The obvious allure to this tight, vicious film noir is seeing Marilyn Monroe in an early performance that demonstrates why she was a fine fit with the cadre of New York–tough, realism-obsessed actors emerging at that time. Largely shorn of the iconic mannerisms that would later make her a star, Monroe plays Nell Forbes, a young women new to the big city whose elevator operator uncle (Elisha Cook Jr.) gets her hired on for a nighttime babysitting gig in the hotel where he works. The hints that Nell might be a little unstable turn into spinning, screaming sirens after she lures a strapping gent (Richard Widmark) from across the way to her room. If she has to bound a gag her young charge (Donna Corcoran) to have a flirtatious night with the stranger, so be it. The psychological thriller boasts a dandy script by Daniel Taradash and further benefits from no-nonsense direction by Roy Ward Baker. Don’t Bother to Knock also boasts a characteristically excellent supporting performance by Anne Bancroft, playing a justly jaded lounge singer.

Problemista (Julio Torres, 2024). The feature directorial debut of Julio Torres is happily aligned with the other offbeat, charming creations that have spring from his restless mind in recent years. In the film, which was also written by Torres, Alejandro (Torres) is a El Salvador emigree living in New York who aspires to design whimsically odd toys for a living. Losing his job at a company that peddles cryogenic freezing to wealthy clients, Alejandro is in danger of deportation if he doesn’t get a new sponsor for his work visa. His best prospect is a caustic film critic (Tilda Swinton, magnificently unhinged) whose allegiances shift like quicksilver. The film is messy and doesn’t totally hold together, but it’s also packed with thrillingly outlandish ideas and given gravity by the brutally honest depiction of the difficulties faced by those trying to navigate the ludicrously complex processes required to secure legal residency in the U.S. Delightful in so many ways, Problemista is especially pleasing because so many famed showbiz weirdos — notably Tilda Swinton and Isabella Rossellini — are present and vividly engaged, tacitly giving Torres their off-kilter blessing.