Strange & Beautiful: a Swiss Army Man review

I know that there are an awful lot of movies out there and sometimes you feel like you’ve seen it all. You might think “I’ve seen a movie about a tire that rolls around and psychically blows up people’s heads, nothing can surprise me!”

This movie used to be on Netflix. It was one of those movies that was so hilariously bad and weird that you had to show it to everyone you knew.

That’s what I thought at least, and I’m glad to know that it’s still possible to be pleasantly surprised when something unique from the festivals finds its way to the masses like this.

Whoever you are, I sincerely doubt you’ve seen a movie quite like Swiss Army Man.

These are two words that I think best capture my impression of the movie: strange and beautiful. It’s strange because it runs with a very odd concept of a man on an island that comes across a farting corpse, and then forges a friendship with it. That is a strange synopsis for a drama. Yet despite that weird and slightly off-putting plot, the movie is executed in a manner that can only be described as beautiful. The cinematography is stunning, the music is energetic yet graceful, and the acting is top-notch.

My favorite part about this movie is its story. It’s one of those movies that has you constantly asking yourself “Where is this going?” and I love those. It doesn’t necessarily keep you on the edge of your seat, but it definitely keeps your attention. It’s a story of desperate survival and how one man (or two??) cope with the painful loneliness and the memories of home that grow more distant every day. At least, that’s how it starts. At some point, the story evolves into a buddy road trip movie, as two ordinary guys travel far and struggle to survive the elements on a journey home, learning more about themselves and life’s biggest questions along the way. Swiss Army Man will have you laughing and saying “What in the world is going on?”, but it will also make you tense and thoughtful at times.

While I do highly recommend this movie, I understand that it won’t appeal to everyone. Like I said, when you read the synopsis on paper, it’s not that hard to write it off as something that might be too strange to follow. But like I said, this movie is unique in its strange ideas and its beautiful execution. You’ll be rooting for a happy ending; I certainly was. Whether or not they got that happy ending, I will leave it up to you to find out on your own.

Let me be clear. Swiss Army Man is not one of those “so bad, that it’s good” movies. It’s a film that is so well executed in all of the necessary elements (good pacing, memorable characters, engaging story, editing that is fun but doesn’t distract, beautif- you get the picture) that you can sometimes forget how weird the premise is.

#Tim #SwissArmyMan