Swiss Army Man

 2016, d. Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan - amazonprime

Swiss Army Man entered my consciousness when it was making its festival rounds years ago.  It sounded weird, like a riff on Castaway but instead of Paul Dano talking to a ball, he instead talks to a corpse, who responds with farts. Daniel Radcliff, already half a decade away from the role was still trying feverishly to shake Harry Potter off of him.  What a better way to do so than playing a dead, farting guy?

One of the big moments of the film that critics cited, sometimes in praise, and sometimes in damnation, is the moment where Dano's Hank rides atop Radcliff like a jet ski, the farts be so powerful as to propel them through the water at a surprising clip.  I have to admit, it sounded too weird to me, which was a sign I was getting old.  20-year-old me would have rushed to the theatre to witness such a spectacle. 

Truth is, it is a truly weird aspect of the film, and yet from that we get a beautiful bit of movie magic about a depressed man becoming friends with a flatulent corpse and learning to actually love himself. It's also about learning that even trash can become something, if not beautiful, at least clever and interesting, not worthless, if the right bit of inspiration is applied.

Hank and the corpse, "Manny", have an adventure together as they make their way back to civilization.  Manny does start to talk which was a huge surprise to me, as after half an hour I thought that Radcliff was going to just commit to being the Bernie of the film.  Manny also proves exceptionally useful, his finger when snapped together create sparks, and he has a sort of karate-chop action that can splinter wood.  He does come true to the film's title, a swiss army man.  But, is it all in Hank's head? Probably, but maybe not. There's perhaps just a little bit of magic to life.

Has Hank's many days of isolation skewed his perception of reality? Absolutely, but that new perception somehow leads him to a much healthier place than where he was before.

Along the way Hank and Manny start discussing a woman Hank has a picture of on his phone, but has never met.  It's uncomfortable the level of investment Hank (and by proxy) Manny put into this woman who doesn't even know they exist.  There's a romantic fantasy there, but it's a film that's aware that it's an unhealthy fantasy.

Is it cool to obsess about someone you've never met (or even someone you have met) and put feelings and emotions and personality upon that person without their knowing? Never. It happens, though, and it's important to understand that it's unhealthy and not real and that beneath that obsession is usually deep seeded unhappiness or other psychological issues. It's a tad oversimplified here as Hank states (she) "seemed so happy, and I wasn't". Hank (and likewise the film) doesn't really reckon with his fixation, mainly because he's moved past it by the time it blows up, and the true emotional center of the film is between Hank and Manny, who may or may not be a construct of his own imagination. 

This is a surprisingly deep and rewarding journey while also being absurdly funny and strange.  The farting frequently makes for good comedic punctuation, but it surprisingly has much more than the one use.  Radcliff really nails the demands of the performance (the odd moment where he seems too alive aside), but this is the first time I've really, really liked Paul Dano.  He's soft, internal, and warm which hasn't been my experience with him before.  I usually find him off-putting.  He tends to take more agressive, or darker, unlikable characters, but it was really nice to see his congenial, sympathetic (rather than pathetic) side.

Directors, the Daniels, certainly had a vision for this film, and they achieved it pretty precisely.  They navigate their very unusual waters with exactly the right tone, never going too broadly comedic, and never getting too deeply dramatic.  It has the exact right weight it needs to have.

I kinda loved it.

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