Swiss Army Man

Dir: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert

2016

****

It is rare that any film released these days is 100% unique and incomparable to another, indeed, Weekend at Bernie's was always in the back of my mind when watching 2016's oddest film Swiss Army Man but even then, I can't say I've ever seen anything quite like it. It stars Paul Dano as Hank, a man Marooned on an Island for some time (one would assume from the length of his beard), we're not told where he is or how he got there, only that he is alone and contemplating the taking of his own life. Then suddenly, he sees a body wash up from the sea (enter Daniel Radcliffe). He rushes over to see if the person needs help but it is too late, the man is deceased and looks as if he has been dead for several hours. Just as he goes back to his crudely constructed noose, he notices the body shake violently, he rushes to examine it, and discovers it has a terrific build-up of wind inside. He jumps on its back, points it out to sea and rides it like a jet-ski and embarks on the most surreal adventure committed to film. Hank names the body Manny, after the sound he makes when he leans on his lungs. He takes him in-land and they both hide in a cave where Hank discovers that Manny has filled with drinkable rain-water when left outside. From then on, Hank uses Manny as a tool, hence the title Swiss Army Man. Before long Manny begins speaking to Hank and asks him lots of questions about life and death and Hank decides that with encouragement and his guidance, Manny will want to live again so much that he will eventually come back to life. The story keeps a lot of the mystery to itself and only unravels what it has to when it has to. The levels of intrigue are never unbearable and the balance is just right. At its core is a warm and affectionate buddy film, you forget that one of the characters is a rotting corpse and it is a wonderful journey of escapism that doesn't ever seem as horrific as it really is. It left me musing over just what the story was trying to say for hours. At first I saw as a metaphor for how people use others, how you can use someone who is essentially dead to you for your own personal gain, but I've since changed my mind. I then wondered whether I had been overthinking it and that it was just an odd-ball comedy with fart gags aplenty. It wasn't until I watched the making of interviews with the crew and team of film makers did I really get it. It's a film made by a group of best friends, all completely nuts but with a very different take on storytelling. Its structure isn't terribly different from most films, it just has its own unique flare about it. The soundtrack is as brilliantly inventive as the story is and pretty much every element is pure craftsmanship from a group of very proud weirdos. At its basic level, it explores what one can learn about life from those that are dead, the effect but also what loneliness can achieve and that that farts are natural, why should we be so quick to condemn them. It has more in common with Richard Heslop's little known 2012 film Frank (with a possible influence from The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie) than it does with Ted Kotcheff's 1989 dark-comedy Weekend at Bernie's but it is its own glorious oddity. It's wonderfully heart-warming, a real experience and disarmingly odd. Story aside, it is the brilliant performances that are key to its workings, Paul Dano is as good as he always is, the guy can do no wrong in my mind. Daniel Radcliffe was a concern of mine, I don't think he's a great actor at all but he was fantastic here as Manny the corpse. A film full of surprises, all of which are pleasant, strange and pleasantly strange.