Review: Swiss Army Man
Weirdness, wackiness and whimsicality permeate Swiss Army Man, the feature film debut of music video directors Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as the Daniels. Undeniably inventive - what film in recent memory, if ever, has combined flatulence and existentialism - it also loses steam quite quickly and runs on empty for most of its 97-minute running time.
Cast Away meets Weekend at Bernie's is a simple but apt description for Swiss Army Man. The film begins on an island, deserted but for 20-something Hank (Paul Dano), whose suicide attempt is interrupted by the appearance of a random corpse (Daniel Radcliffe) on the beach. The body, soon named "Manny," proves itself a genie of sorts, granting Hank's needs in the most unexpected of ways. Take Manny's gaseous emissions, which are so powerfully eruptive that Hank is able to ride him like a jet ski away from the island.
The two wind up on a more forested shore, where Hank discovers some of Manny's other "powers" such as being able to use his erection as a compass and the ability to be a human drinking fountain, spewing forth a stream of water when his chest is pushed. Yet Manny also acts as a springboard for Hank to reflect upon his life, specifically on the fact that he didn't seem to have much of one. There's a great deal of chatter about Hank being an outsider, someone who behaved differently, or at least was made to behave in a way that was socially acceptable. For all the film's fascination with the body as the most unholy of temples with all its disgusting excretions, the underlying message is that there's no reason to be ashamed of who you essentially are. Or, as one scrawl in a book notes, "Everybody poops."
Despite its absurdities, Swiss Army Man also functions as a portrait of delusion, which is why the finale's literal-mindedness is jarringly out of place. Up until that point, one is never quite sure if Manny is only a figment of Hank's imagination - or is it derangement? One sequence finds Hank dressing up as a girl and recreating out of bits of rubbish the bus on which he met Sarah (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), whose image is the wallpaper for his nearly-dead cell phone. The lengths to which Hank brings the memory to life is both endearing and deeply alarming, and gives credence to the likelihood that the entire film is one sustained hallucination.
Though Kwan and Scheinert do a more than admirable job of maintaining the film's peculiar tone, Swiss Army Man is an ultimately unsatisfying watch. Too much of it is repetitive, most of it is aimless; that said, it does achieve a sort of bizarre, almost transcendent power. The directors deserve a significant amount of the credit as do Dano and Radcliffe, who are wholly committed to their roles. Radcliffe has proven himself time and time again as a game and fearless actor in his post-Harry Potter career; his Manny is a triumph of sorts, not just in terms of physicality but also of the childlike innocence and vulnerability that Radcliffe imbues into the figure of decayed flesh.
Swiss Army Man
Directed by: Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert
Written by: Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert
Starring: Paul Dano, Daniel Radcliffe, Mary Elizabeth Winstead
