Title: Swiss Army Man
Release Date: June 24, 2016
Director: Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan
Production Company: Tadmor | Astrakan Films AB | Cold Iron Pictures |
Blackbird Films | Prettybird
Summary/Review:
Hank Thompson (Paul Dano) is stranded on a desert island and contemplating suicide until he sees a corpse wash up on the shore. Hank learns that the corpse has “magical powers,” mainly farting, and forms a friendship with him calling him Manny (Daniel Radcliffe). Manny learns to talk or at least Hank imagines he can. Things get really weird as Hank and Manny travel through the wilderness and Hank tries to teach the ways of humanity to Manny. Of particular significance is Hank working through his regret about not talking to a woman he was attracted to on the bus named Sarah (Mary Elizabeth Winstead).
The movie is gross and uncomfortable. But it’s also kind of the point. Life is gross and uncomfortable and rules of society mean hiding these things about yourself from others. The movie is kind of a long metaphor about how one has to let down your defenses and show your real self to form connections in relationship with others.
Manny: But maybe everyone’s a little bit ugly. And maybe we’re all just ugly, dying sacks of shit, and maybe all it’ll take is one person to just be okay with that, and then the whole world will be dancing and singing and farting, and everyone will feel a little bit less alone.
Hank: Manny, you have no idea how nice that sounds.
And there are a lot of fart jokes. The more I think about this movie the more I like it.
Rating: ****
Panorama of the Mountains 