Swiss Army Man

Image credit: Film Music Daily

There are many movies that you only discover or determine to watch because of hearsay or some strange discovery or because they feature an actor that you really appreciate. I came across such a film during work one day: Swiss Army Man.

The film debut from music video directors Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan, Swiss Army Man tells the deeply touching –and simultaneously crude and disturbing- story of Hank (Paul Dano), a man stranded on a deserted island. While attempting a DIY hanging Hank comes across a washed up corpse (Daniel Radcliffe) that he quickly turns into a jetski –somehow using the expulsion of stale air- and manages to escape to a greater body of land. Unwilling to leave the body on the beach Hank proceeds to get lost in a forest with it and very quickly a strange and beautiful friendship forms between the two as they try to find their way home.

As a fan of both Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe, this movie instantly caught my eye and I became even more intrigued when I read the blurb. Despite many strange and uncomfortable scenes: the various uses Hank finds for the corpse making it the titular character for example, this is one of the strangest and charming movies that I’ve come across. Underneath the crude humour there is a beautiful and wholly original story about loneliness and the power of friendship, a story that is made all the more poignant thanks to the performances of the film’s leads.

Paul Dano maintains this lovely and genuine sense of reality even though everything that happens is too fantastical to exist anywhere except in his head. Think how different Castaway would have been if the volleyball answered back: that is what this movie is like. Dano is the enduring Tom Hanks character that manages to escape early on, but slowly looses his desire for home when he realises that he has everything his needs and Dano’s performance is grounded, genuine, and touchingly relatable.

Image credit: IMDb

Daniel Radcliffe –in what could probably be one of the most uncomfortable roles ever- provides the film with a lot of its comedy. Not just the crude bodily stuff, but also a beautiful almost child-like carte blanche in his delivery and dialogue –yep he’s got dialogue. The film’s weirdness can definitely be attributed to Radcliffe’s character as he raises a lot of questions about the nature of life and death while simultaneously paying homage to a number of movies as well as the whole zombie genre.

While it’s definitely not a film for everyone and falls under the umbrella of those films that are a tad too off-centre for mainstream appreciation -like Kaboom or The Living Wake- Swiss Army Man is a deeply touching and astoundingly, irrepressibly sweet film that definitely deserves your attention should you ever feel so inclined.

Starring: Paul Dano, Daniel Radcliffe, Antonia Ribero, Timothy Eulich, Richard Gross, Marika Casteel, Andy Hull, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead