Good morning, afternoon, evening and night, loyal Tartan readers! I’m back with what you’ve all been waiting for: more Paul Dano content! The subject of this week’s indulgence is “Swiss Army Man” (2016), written and directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. “Swiss Army Man” follows Hank (played by Paul Dano) as he escapes a remote island and then attempts to find his way back to society, aided by Manny (played by Daniel Radcliffe), a corpse with some special powers. While Hank tries to get Manny to remember his life before death, the pair grow an unbreakable bond as they work through lessons about life, love, and what it means to be weird.
This movie is delightful. Despite the heavy tone of the opening, things quickly improve as soon as Manny enters the scene by washing up on shore and distracting Hank from his suicide attempt. While this is quite a sweet movie showcasing the bond between a man and his new corpse best friend, it is also ripe with just ridiculous humor. More specifically, farting is a large part of the plot in this movie. If you like a good fart joke, this movie should absolutely be on your watchlist. Manny is just letting ‘em rip, one right after the other, but not for naught! Hank actually escapes his island by riding Manny like a fart-powered jet ski, and in the end of the movie (spoiler alert) Manny farts himself off into the sunset, giving Hank a soft smile as he flatulates himself to eternal freedom from the standards of society. In between the farts, there are plenty of genuine moments between Hank and Manny, as Hank attempts to teach Manny how to be “normal.” This includes Hank teaching Manny all about the joys of car rides, movies, and eating at restaurants, as well as lessons on how to talk to girls, despite the fact that Hank is cripplingly shy in real life. All of these lessons are aided by lots of fun props and simple machines constructed out of forest materials and trash, and the girl-talk lessons come complete with Hank dressed up as Sarah, the supposed object of Manny’s affections. Their relationship has its ups and downs, but the overall impression this movie left me with was that of a sweet friendship (and perhaps something more?).
I want to shout out the cinematography and editing for this movie. One of my favorite parts was a montage sequence around the middle of the movie, during Hank’s lessons for Manny. It’s all shot and edited like your classic falling-in-love flashback montage, but everywhere there would be a beautiful girl, it’s instead Paul Dano in a dress and a ratty wig. The style of this movie is just immaculate, and one of it's best features in my opinion. Every time I saw a quirkily edited sequence I was just like, “Oh yeah. This is the good stuff.” Having done some research into the editor of this movie, Matthew Hannam, this makes sense. Hannam has gone on the record saying, “I’ve always made very, very strange films.” What more do you need to know?
Of course, this wouldn’t be my review if I didn’t mention the score. One of the first things that stands out about this score is that it has no instruments! Eagle-eared listeners will notice that this is a reference to the fact that Hank is alone in the wilderness with no instruments. While it’s a quite obvious link, it still made me smile every time a silly a cappella version of the “Jurassic Park” theme came on. There’s also a brief mention of “Cotton Eyed Joe,” which proves that this is a movie after my own heart. The lack of instruments throughout most of the score also makes it just that much more impactful towards the end of the movie when we get some sweet little string moments. It’s a good, clean score, and heavily features Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe. Chef’s kiss.
Overall, this movie is very good, but also very weird. The acting and editing and production are all just so good, but when the credits rolled at the end, I was not shocked in the least to realize that it was an A24 film. Weird is definitely not bad, but just keep that in mind when you’re scrolling through various streaming services looking for a silly little movie to watch. This film is gonna get a good rating from me, because not only was it unhinged, it included Dano and Radcliffe being freaky little weirdos (the best type of characters). While I did thoroughly enjoy this movie, it doesn’t rank at the top of my charts. In the end I’d say that all of the warm gasses being let out in this movie elevate it, and “Swiss Army Man” will earn a “silly little movie with silly little guys in it :)” on the "Good Time – Bad Time" scale.
We’re testing a new look for The Tartan. Let us know what you think!
© The Tartan. Carnegie Mellon’s Student Newspaper Since 1906.