Daniels' Swiss Army Man

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Each week, Drew creates a watchlist with film recommendations provided by you.

Last week’s winner (dark comedies). Fargo, submitted by Kelly F. and Phil M. Congratulations!

This week’s vote (movies that are better on a rewatch). Don’t forget to vote!

This week’s category: mindless movies. That is, great movies that don’t make you think so hard. Reply with your submission to be featured and voted on next week. Winners are entered into an annual lottery for a mystery prize and each win increases your odds of being selected.¹

¹ If your submission doesn't comply with the category, I’ll take all of your favorite characters that you grew up with, the ones you associate with your most cherished core childhood memories, and allow the general public to ruin them. Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse. Donald Duck, Daisy Duck. Cinderella. Snow White. Moana. Simba. Mufasa. Woody, Buzz. Every. Single. One.

All I need to do is get Disney to agree to — oh. Shit. This threat has already been carried out. Disney is licensing most of its major characters to OpenAI for use in Sora. Somebody get Bob Iger the Nobel Peace Prize. This is going to be great for society.

Please follow the category anyways.

A spoiler-free description of the movie.

A man stranded on an island befriends a dead body.

If you like these things, then you’ll like the film.

→ Paul Dano. Man. I just really like Paul Dano.

→ Poop and the meaning of life. Against all odds, this two-hander (in which one of the two hands is an audibly farting corpse) is also a tender rumination on adulthood and loneliness and finding joy in the little moments.

→ Jurassic Park. This film is nothing like Jurassic Park but there’s a recurring nod to it and that’s enough for me. Don’t be greedy.

What I liked about it.

Last week, Quentin Tarantino made headlines when he called Paul Dano “the weakest fucking actor in SAG” and accused him of ruining There Will Be Blood.

When I observe this behavior in any adult man, almost instantaneous is my desire to draw a connection between their flagrantly insensitive behavior and the smallness of their wiener. But, today I’m refraining from my grade-school comedic sensibilities because Quentin Tarantino has been through enough already.²

Instead, I submit Dano’s performance in Swiss Army Man as a counter to Tarantino’s proclamation.

Swiss Army Man was crafted by the same duo (known as Daniels) who wrote and directed Everything Everywhere All At Once.

In it, you’ll recognize the same surreal, silly visual comedy. You’ll also recognize the same tender-hearted, youthful rumination on adulthood, societal norms, and the meaning of life. It’s this combination of elements that make Daniels’ films so distinct, joyful, and memorable.

Paul Dano plays opposite Daniel Radcliffe. It’s a two-hander, but Daniel Radcliffe plays a (very flatulent) corpse, inanimate for much of the narrative. Throughout the film, Dano is tasked with (both literally and metaphorically) carrying Radcliffe on his back.

Dano has to sell every moment. The physical comedy of riding a dead body like a jet-ski, propelled by its own wind. The deep loneliness of a man who felt this way long before finding himself on a deserted island. The craze in his eyes as his delusions become less and less grounded in reality.

He even contributes to the (brilliantly weird) score a few times, often humming along audibly throughout his performance.

Not enough of you have seen this film. I’m certain of it. And, for me, it’s the perfect rebuttal to Tarantino’s bully-ish statements. That Dano was a “non-entity” in There Will Be Blood, a film Tarantino considers to be a two-hander.

Well, here’s a two-hander where Dano plays opposite a corpse (perhaps the definition of a non-entity). And Dano is revelatory.

Enjoy the film.

² Quentin Tarantino’s behavior — in my opinion — goes beyond respectful criticism and unnecessarily attacks Paul Dano’s self-worth. But, it makes a lot more sense when you look at it in the context of Tarantino’s tragic backstory.

Quentin Jerome Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, on March 27, 1963. His father, Tony Tarantino, left before Quentin was born. His mother, Connie McHugh, raised him primarily in Torrance, California (in Los Angeles County). Growing up, Tarantino was allowed to see movies regardless of the maturity of the content. Perhaps this helped to foster his love of film. It was terrible. By the age of 14, Tarantino had already written a screenplay called Captain Peachfuzz and the Anchovy Bandit. It was based on the 1977 film Smokey and the Bandit. Not long thereafter, he dropped out of high school to pursue a career in film. What kid would want to leave high school to go do whatever they want? He lied about his age in the early eighties to work as an usher at an adult film theater called Pussycat Theater. Every teenage boy’s worst nightmare. Then, he worked five years as a clerk at a video store and became known for having the very best film recommendations. Corporal punishment for a film nerd. He started to get work as a production assistant in Hollywood. But then, he was cast as an Elvis impersonator for an episode of The Golden Girls, which, he recalled, helped support him as he worked on his first feature length film, Reservoir Dogs. Reservoir Dogs was a quick hit at the Sundance Film Festival in 1992. Major film studios began approaching him to make all sorts of movies, including Speed and Men in Black. He turned them down to focus on Pulp Fiction. The immediate success of his debut film and those that followed was almost too much to bear. It all led to a remarkably successful career in film. According to this completely unverified website, Tarantino’s net worth is estimated at $150 million.

All of this in spite of the fact that the man gives a strikingly similar energy to that of a loquacious dentist (both aesthetically and behaviorally) — one that talks endlessly about their own interests, presuming you have no ability to respond given the string of drool dangling from the corner of your lips. Only, Tarantino scraps the dental equipment and simply pretends he’s the only one with something to say.

By the way, I still love his films (Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, Inglorious Basterds, and Django Unchained are among my all-time favorites). And I believe he has a right to his opinion just like the rest of us. But I’m not happy with this unnecessarily rude behavior, nor am I surprised since he has a reputation for this sort of talking.

Drew and I still bought tickets to see Kill Bill, The Whole Bloody Affair, and we cannot wait to see it in 70mm.

A fact or two about the production that makes you say “oh, neat.”

→ The score lacks any musical instruments until the end. Before then, the sounds you hear are limited to those that only a body could make, or that could be found in a natural environment.

One great line of dialogue from the film.

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