In the opening scene of the charmingly bizarre Swiss Army Man we meet a scraggly-haired cast away alone on an island ready to commit suicide. As he prepares to do the deed a corpse washes up on shore with extremely loud and unflinching flatulence. A light bulb goes off and the loner recalibrates his plan by riding the gassy corpse like a jet ski to salvation.
It’s smart to put this scene at the beginning because it signals to the audience what type of movie you’re in for. This is the movie where a desperate man makes use of a farting corpse to escape his island imprisonment. At this point you’re either in for the ride or not, simple as that. Much was made of Swiss Army Man’s take-it-or-leave-it approach at its Sundance premiere but the fact that the movie makes no excuses and plays by its own rules is refreshing and most of all entertaining.
A labor of love by the prolific music video directing duo known as The Daniels (Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan), Swiss Army Man is a movie that is easy to dismiss but given a chance can easily sneak up on you and tug at your heartstrings by the time the credits roll. Paul Dano leads the cast as Hank, the suicidal loner at the beginning of the film. We never learn why he’s stranded on an island in the first place but that doesn’t matter. From his disheveled look to the desperation in his eyes we see this man is clearly going insane. Manny, on the other hand, is the corpse who washes ashore and doesn’t say much of anything. As played by Daniel Radcliffe, his main purpose is to play dead and provide as many varied farts as possible. You read that right, in this movie the key to Hank’s survival lies in Manny’s limbs as well as his excess gas.
As Swiss Army Man develops its story we learn of a bond between Hank and a mystery woman from his life before the island. Since Hank has been isolated for so long it’s hard to tell what’s real and what isn’t, especially in his scenes with Manny. It turns out Manny is more than just a multi-purpose survival tool but how much of this is real or in Hank’s head is up to you to decide as the film unfolds.
The Daniels have made an oddly impressive debut feature with Swiss Army Man. This movie is definitely not for everyone but for those looking for absurdist humor this will tide you over nicely. What other movie can have you laughing at a corpse’s farts at the beginning and tearing up at those same farts by the end? It’s no exaggeration to say that Daniel Radcliffe’s anus has more speaking lines than his mouth. Swiss Army Man is a strange trip but one worth taking.
Rating: B
Swiss Army Man opens in theaters this Summer.
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