Swiss Army Man: "The Important, For Now, Is To Find What Was Your Life"

Director: Daniel Scheinert
                Daniel Kwan
Writer:     Daniel Scheinert
                Daniel Kwan
Starring: Paul Dano
                Daniel Radcliffe
                Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Rating:    *****

Release Date: September 30, 2016 

When this unorthodox film was first screened at Sundance Film Festival, it was me wit an audience that walked out, murmurs of stunt casting and the press turned their nose up at the idea. However, Swiss Army man is a touching, poignant and meaningful black comedy that looks at love, loneliness, friendship and self-discovery, all with a farting corpse.

Hank (Dano), is stranded on a deserted island and suicidal. As he prepares to end it all with a noose around his neck, he suddenly notices something washed up on the beach...a dead body (Radcliffe). Succumbing to his overbearing loneliness, he befriends it and names it Manny. As they struggle through the forest Hank soon discovers that his new friend has many hidden superhuman abilities and soon begins to reanimate and talk. It is these tricks that could help Hank get back to his home and the secret love, Sarah (Winstead). 

Paul Dano

What drives this film is the two men, Dano and Radcliffe. their chemistry and comedic timing is something to truly admire in this film, and stops what could have been a disaster of a film from being just that. Dano gives Hank hope, heart, warmth and dry sense of humour; and despite his hopeless situation and quirky personality is relatable and easy to endear to.

It is no secret that outside of Harry Potter, I have never found Daniel Radcliffe's work to be, well any good. He has always struggled to shake Potter off, and truly inhabit a new character believably. That was until he played a corpse; I'm sure there is an irony there, but we'll move past that. He proves that he is brilliant at comedy, able to grip an audience without a big budget film shoot and can act with subtlety and wit. 

The two males together carry the film, as well as each other; and from an audiences perspective, it is electric to watch.

Daniel Radcliffe

Swiss Army Man is directed by Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan, and they slip between a dazed fantasy and an off kilter comedy; helped by fantastic visuals (including using Radcliffe as a scuba suit). Their magical filmmaking has meant that Swiss Army Man has somehow managed to be one of my favourite films of the this year; a film about a farting corpse, in case you missed that before.

I have never watched a film that was as full of so many risks, made so boldly and had everything going against it; but Swiss Army Man is proof that clever casting, a brilliant script and wondrous direction can make the craziest of concepts become beautiful pieces of cinema. The setting is a thing of beauty in itself, and I felt like I was there with the two guys as they struggled to get back to civilisation. I've honestly never willed two characters on as much as I did with Hank and Manny. 

Swiss Army Man is as close to a masterpiece as a film can be, just don't let the wacky concept fool you into thinking otherwise.

 Swiss Army Man - Red Band Trailer