Swiss Army Man

Movie, 2016, R


Ok so I could easily write hundreds of pages on this film, as it is one of the most thought provoking I have ever seen (thoughts being both good and bad), but I’ll try to be brief and just explain concepts that I haven’t read elsewhere and I believe are somewhat unique to my perspective.

Premise - “A suicidal man teaches a dead body that life is worth living.” I love that tagline. It’s like Cast Away, with a man stranded on a desert island. But instead of a volleyball companion, it’s a dead body who magically comes to life and inhabits powers that help them get home.

My review - Alright, it’s hard to keep this brief. But I thought of this movie mostly in Freudian terms. You could say Manny is like the Id, and operates by the pleasure principle. He’s entirely driven by hedonics. He wants what he wants and doesn’t understand why people can’t have that. He doesn’t understand “wrong” or “weird.” He’s instinctual (all that really matters is survival and sex) and completely without filter. Hank, his counterpart, is arguably the Superego who operates by the reality principle. All he really cares about is what people will think about him, how his actions are shamed, and the way he's limited by social pressures. Through Hank, the main theme of the film becomes self-consciousness. I could explain this theory in a lot more depth, but basically it’s about how there are unconscious drives we all hide away, to a point that can be unhealthy. As a subset of this, no one likes to face their unconscious. I thought that this film was designed to make most people feel uncomfortable. The creators specifically wanted to evoke that feeling, isolate it, and most importantly, question it. So you’re watching this, and you feel weird and gross. But then you have to think, why? Does it have to be gross? And the second you stop thinking that it’s gross, a burden is released, and you can enjoy the film for the comedy it is. Of course, it’s not all comedy. It’s also about suicide and there’s a lot of exploration into intrusive thoughts and self-esteem and general dysphoria so… that’s a whole other thing that I don’t have time to explore. My only criticisms for the film are not conceptual, but rather practical. The film is too dark for me at times (not like, thematically, I can handle that… but I mean literally dark. This was a low budget film mostly utilizing natural lighting and there’s a lot of night scenes that are hard on the eyes), and it can be rather slow, especially towards the beginning. Overall it’s a great film. (93/100)

Quote - "Sometimes, you're lucky enough to bump into the one person you want to spend the rest of your life with, and that is love."

What to watch for - THE BUS SCENE. I love that scene and Daniel Radcliffe claims it’s what he thinks of as his best acting. And the music is phenomenal.

If you liked this movie, I'd recommend Horns!

Directors: The Daniels
Distribution Company: A24