Swiss Army Man Review

Swiss Army Man - I feel so conflicted

by Colleen Guzman

          It is date night again and what better way to spend time with one another than side by side in a dark theater with some super buttery popcorn between you.  Vince was at a mall convention near a kitchy little theater called the Bijou and sure enough they were playing Swiss Army Man, so our curiosity got the best of us and we decided to go check out the film. I had seen a quick interview awhile ago where the actors and director were talking about the movie and the experience and they exuded so much love for the project that I thought, "I should really check this film out." Vince of course wanted to see anything with Swiss Army in the title and anything with so much farting, erection and masturbation humor just couldn't let you down.

         

            I must admit that the first fifteen to twenty minutes had me concerned that I had chosen the wrong movie to attend. There was so much flatulence it was a tad difficult to take and in fact some people walked out, which apparently happened at Sundance as well. There is a moment where the flatulence comes in handy as I'm sure you've seen in the trailers where Daniel Radcliffe is ridden like a jet ski, but once we get past that it really serves no purpose except to make the audience feel uncomfortable. I wondered at times if they took some of the taboo topics to the breaking point simply to see how much people would be able to stand in one movie or if in fact they wanted you to feel that uncomfortable so when you have to face the real turmoil within the story line you are already feeling so uncomfortable that you can almost physically feel the pain that Paul Dano's character feels.

        I don't want to give away too much about this movie because the confusion and the journey through it make this movie what it is. I would like to say that Daniel Radcliffe is immensely talented and his range of acting is more phenomenal than one might believe. It has to be difficult for him to rise above Harry Potter and become something else in our minds, but let me tell you that for me there was no point in the movie where I felt like I was watching Harry Potter run through an adventure in his life. I never wanted him to break out his wand and I never asked myself where Ron and Hermoine were. Daniel takes Weekend at Bernies to a whole other level because he is dead but yet not dead and you believe both so simultaneously that you begin to wonder if you are hallucinating. I don't want to downplay the role that Paul Dano plays in this film because he takes you on the ride into his character that I can't even begin to describe without giving away too much about this movie. When you pair them together they give you this perfection of a relationship that is so imperfect that you have a magical movie that strings you along, makes you horribly uncomfortable, and makes you take a look at how people are treated and how that treatment affects how they behave. This movie is difficult to watch at times but it is worth watching. Hang in there through the first 20 minutes of farting and you will get the opportunity to see a beautiful, sad, relationship movie.