Swiss Army Man,
directed by Dan Swan and Daniel Scheinert
(R, 1 hour, 37 minutes)
In Swiss Army Man, the actor best known for playing Harry Potter plays a flatulent corpse. Does that sound like something you'd be interested in? Maybe you need to know more. Because for 15 minutes or so it's an extended obvious joke about how human bodies stick around after the person associated with them has ended. But then Swiss Army Man takes a surprising turn and becomes a wonderfully heartfelt meditation on what it means to become human and how we ought to cherish our sentient moments. It becomes a movie about what it means to have free will.
Paul Dano plays Hank, who has somehow marooned himself on a small island somewhere in the Pacific. While he has sent out messages pleading for rescue, as the movie opens he's preparing to hang himself. Then he notices a man in a business suit who has washed up on the beach.
As it turns out, the dude (Daniel Radcliffe) is dead. And flatulent. But Hank ingeniously discovers that he can work with this stiff. Using the body as a jet ski, they make it back to the mainland. But they're not out of the woods yet.
Hank discovers that his new friend has many uses, like the tool referenced in the title. He can provide fresh water. His limbs can be used to snap tree branches. And Hank discovers he's able to teach Manny, as he has dubbed the dead guy, to talk.
While writer-directors Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert pack a lot of philosophy into their debut feature's gorgeous middle section, it's probably better for audiences to discover the film themselves as it addresses the strange ways of humankind and the inherent weirdness of being alive. It's a warm and inventive movie that echoes the work of Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman while remaining singularly imaginative. The cinematography by Larkin Seiple is lush and evocative, turning the small ($3 million) budget into a virtue. And the way music threads through the characters and into the ether, binding them together, and to the universe, is life-affirming.
Being Charlie (R, 1 hour, 37 minutes) A predictable face-your-demons drama in which an annoying substance-abusing 18-year-old with a penchant for running away from juvenile rehab programs is sent by his intervening dad, a former film star who's a candidate for governor of California, to an adult facility. With Nick Robinson, Cary Elwes, Common, Devon Bostick, Morgan Saylor; directed by Rob Reiner, and co-written by his 22-year-old son Nick Reiner (based on his battles with addiction that started in his early teens).
Into the Forest (R, 1 hour, 41 minutes) A traumatic, intelligent end-of-the-world sci-fi drama relies heavily on its powerful characters: two teenage sisters living in a remote Canadian forest fight to stay alive in the wake of a devastating global power outage. With Ellen Page, Evan Rachel Wood, Max Minghella, Michael Eklund, Wendy Crewson; directed by Patricia Rozema.
Fender Bender (not rated, 1 hour, 31 minutes) A solid, simple, decently constructed and sometimes surprising slasher film in which a newly licensed 17-year-old driver gets rear-ended by an apologetic stranger and exchanges contact info with him, which is unfortunate because he turns out to be a serial killer. With Bill Sage, Harrison Sim, Makenzie Vega; directed by Mark Pavia.
The Mind's Eye (not rated, 1 hour, 27 minutes) A low-budget, flimsy and messy horror/gore movie in which a pair of psycho-kinetically superior pals become the pawns of a deranged doctor intent on using their powers for evil gains. With Graham Skipper, Lauren Ashley Carter, Noah Segan; directed by Joe Begos.
Diary of a Chambermaid (not rated, 1 hour, 36 minutes) A delectable, sharp-eyed costume drama set in France in the late 1800s, this third version is the story of a scheming, sexy housekeeper who wages class warfare against the uppity, cruel and corrupt members of the bourgeoisie in an elegant home in Normandy. Based on the racy (for the time) 1900 novel by Octave Mirbeau. With Lea Seydoux, Vincent Lindon; directed by Benoit Jacquot. In French with subtitles.
MovieStyle on 10/07/2016