Being stranded on a deserted island leaves young Hank (Paul Dano) bored, lonely and without hope. As a rope hangs around his neck, Hank prepares to end it all, until he suddenly spots a man (Daniel Radcliffe) laying by the shore. Unfortunately, he is dead and quite flatulent. Using the gassy body to his advantage, Hank miraculously makes it back to the mainland. However, he now finds himself lost in the wilderness and dragging the talking corpse named Manny along for the adventure.
Written and directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, and starring Daniel Radcliffe, and Paul Dano, Swiss Army Man must have been one confusing film to work on behind-the-scenes. That being said, it must have also been quite a great deal of fun too, because this is one heck of a quirky, comedic, fantastical drama.
This is such a peculiar film. You could vaguely describe it as Cast Away meets Weekend at Bernie's, but that would barely scrape the surface of what is going on in Swiss Army Man because Radcliffe's Manny is so much more than a prop. He is a multi-purpose tool that has a function for any situation. An adventure story that makes use of a somewhat magical corpse, is an interesting choice in method to allow our primary protagonist the means to dissect his own life.
This is not a story of how Paul Dano's Hank managed to find his way back to the civilised world. This is the exploration of why Hank got lost in the first place. Much more than a film about farts, they are a metaphor for emotionally holding things in, and learning to let things go. Without any of his own memories, Manny exhibits many of the behaviours of a child. Consistently curious, no filter, and the confidence to ask any questions he may have. Manny the corpse is free of social constructs, and that freedom further highlights the feelings of shame and embarrassment that Hank feels does to his socially awkward nature.
As it progresses, the film becomes ever more fantastical. What started off as a quirky survival film, transcends into an alternative reality of wishes, wants, and creative reconstructions of events passed, and dreams to be. Combined with some absolutely gorgeous cinematography and a brilliant score, the whole experience can be quite enlightening.
The whole film is not quite so full of whimsy though, and that will make this film rather polarizing (not to mention the audience members that can't see Daniel Radcliffe as anything other than Harry Potter will no doubt be disappointed regardless). There are more than several times where plot progression seems to stop dead, and it creates a film where the pacing is slow and inconsistent, working together with Dano's performance to bring about a feeling of melancholy throughout.
There are some genuinely great moments in the film, but there are also a lot of moments that are not. It almost feels like this would have reached higher regard critically if it had cut its runtime down; there isn't quite enough content to really justify a full feature film.
Swiss Army Man is a thoroughly original film, and it's great to see that new ideas are being brought to life through film. Unfortunately, the inconsistent tone and pacing prevent this from being a mainstream success that it could be. There is a lot of interesting commentary going on in the film once you get past the farts, poops, and erections, a lot of truths, because "before the Internet, every girl was a lot more special".