My Thoughts on Swiss Army Man

Swiss Army Man is a comedy/drama film that was written and directed by Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan. The movie stars Paul Dano as Hank and Daniel Radcliffe as Manny. The film opens with Hank stranded on an island about to take his own life but sees a body that washed up on shore. Hank goes over to the body and the body starts to fart. Hank then uses the farts to ride the body like a jet ski to reach another island. Hank then carries the body around the island to try and find a way home. They reach a shelter where the body comes back to life but knows nothing. Hank gives him the name Manny and starts to tell him about everything. By teaching Manny things about the world and having Manny experience different emotions and events, Manny gains "abilities" such as being able to shoot things out of his mouth and use his body like an axe. Throughout their time in the wilderness, Hank has Manny live out some of the events that have happened in Hank's life to try and motivate Manny to help him go home. One of the main motivations is a picture of a girl on a bus. Hank and Manny eventually make it back to civilization, but it turns out Manny brought Hank to the house the girl in the picture took. Her daughter finds the two in the back yard and eventually, the cops come. They figure out what happened and start to take Manny's body to the morgue, but Hank takes to body and runs. Hank is then chased by the cops, the girl from the picture, and Hank's dad. They run through the forest where Hank and Manny were stranded and see everything Hank built. Eventually, they make it to the beach and Manny farts away into the water. 

I thought the movie overall was interesting, but a little weird. The dynamic between Manny and Hank was unique. Hank was obviously teaching Manny about the world, but Hank was also learning from Manny. Manny in a way was what Hank wanted to be. Hank convinced Manny that he had a life with the girl from the picture and did all of these things with her, but in reality, it was what Hank wanted for himself with this girl. I think this idea of imagining what could have been a very common thing among people when it comes to regret. So in a sense, Manny represents the regret and fear that he has had throughout his life, and in the end when Manny farts away, it represents Hank letting go of the regret and fear. 

A scene that stood out to me was the scene where Hank rebuilt the bus and had Manny relive the moment that he first saw the girl from the picture. I thought the way Hank built everything was really creative and clever. Using the magazine pictures to imitate looking out the bus window and dirty plastic as a window was really smart. This scene really stuck out to me just because of everything that went into it and how clever it was.