Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan's 'Swiss Army Man' Review
Swiss Army Man is a film that that exists simply because it can. It's a nonsensical story that boasts its arthouse cinematography and writing.
The film opens with a serious tone: a male preparing to hang himself. He's lost on an island and void of all hope, until the body of Manny washes up on the beach in front of him.
Manny is a swiss army man; he's capable of performing impossible tasks as nothing more than a corpse. Hank begins to use Manny for various survival tasks throughout the forest, and eventually befriends him upon discovering he can talk. Swiss Army Man eventually becomes a tale of life and survival through friendship as they both learn new things and fight towards living.
A large portion of the film is filmed through artsy montages of the duo enjoying the little things in life: Hank uses Manny to build shelters and teach him lessons of life, leading to Manny questioning his own existence; whether he had a family, a job, love, happiness, and how he may have died. That said, the film focuses on the survival of Manny, after all, we did see him attempt to commit suicide in the beginning.
Hank and Manny find solace in each other, Manny becomes Hank's motivation to get home and show him the life he lost. The life he had and Manny could possibly have once again.