Cinema Review: Swiss Army Man

I’ll wager even now that this is likely to be the weirdest movie that you will see all year. But it is strangely compelling and likeable. Hank (Paul Dano) is stranded on a tiny deserted island and is about to hang himself in despair at his isolation. At the last minute, Manny (Daniel Radcliffe) is washed ashore and Hank is spared… but the problem is that Manny is dead. So begins a surreal, metaphorical journey in which Hank manages to find his way back to civilisation. It begins with the cadaverous Manny’s expulsion of bodily gasses. Hank finds that he can use them as jet engines and rides Manny’s body all the way across the sea to America – as fart jokes go, it works well enough to begin with but is a tad overdone. Manny then miraculously comes to life – or does he? Is he instead a mere projection of Hank’s subconscious, through which all manner of anxieties and inhibitions are ‘workshopped’? This is the relevance of the movie’s title – just as the famous Swiss Army Knife has a g’zillion gadgets that might save your life, so Manny, living or otherwise, provides Hank with numerous opportunities to liberate himself from his own psychological straightjacket. It lags occasionally – most two-handers do – but there are many wonderful scenes of unexpected grandeur as Hank creates a home in the woods, a bus and a girl’s outfit from the rubbish that they find everywhere. It is an ambitious and at time discomfiting film  – a little bit silly, too – but for some reason, and only fleetingly, it brought to mind the magnificent Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012). Dano’s performances are always on the edge of some deep internal crevice – his head is disturbing enough to begin with – so he is perfectly suited to the role, while Radcliffe, leaving Harry Potter further behind with every outing, is marvellous as a stiff (whose erections are funny enough to warrant their over-exploitation). A superb soundtrack does wonders for a movie that is bizarre and absolutely original.