Link: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx2LaSBm5_CFSMkOTGbHD8tbQbPvCtXJuFICul6Jl0Qn9nOUmTF4X6i9xL6qutzsd-z7t9b3Q3zfS9vfqUWFEgqB4-vWnMum076paZJTzeGHdTRjC7UF1g1FEKWc5LJOLlU3-y3WMfiAw/s1600/swiss-army-man-_02_4089_rgb.jpg
Swiss Army Man (Kwan and Scheinert) begins with
wind-blowing and an ocean shot depicting a juice box with the words “Help Me”
inscribed on top. A little sailboat serves as a template for the message “I
don’t want to die alone” (Kwan and Scheinert). Hank is humming while trying to
hang himself on a cave by the beach. A close-up of Hank’s face highlights the
rope around his neck. The corpse of Manny washes up on shore, prodding Hank to
wish Manny was not dead. Hank hopes for a friend or for someone to save himself
from committing suicide. The flatulence of Manny caught Hank’s attention and
Hank explains to Manny how he never got to go to parties or find a lifelong
partner. Hank goes back to the cave to re-attempt suicide, but Manny’s
flatulence brings him back to the corpse. As Manny starts to leave the shore
and head into the water, Hank hops along and rides Manny as a jet ski.
Different vocalizations characterize the jet ski experience, with loud and soft
and fast and slow tempos. Hank and Manny arrive on shore, leading Hank to find
a bag of cheese puffs and the camera to utilize a point-of-view shot of him
looking at the lock screen on his phone. The pair wander into the forest and
into a cave due to rain. Hank, in an apparent coping mechanism, is humming while
he is reflected in a bluish light. He exhibits desperation in the cave due to
believing Manny is dead, but Manny’s eyes suddenly move as Hank is about to
give up hope. Manny begins spouting water and Hank uses a cup to gather and
drink all the water he can. Both characters’ faces are dark, but the background
outside the cave is relatively bright. The light on Hank’s and Manny’s faces changes
after Manny groans for the first time, showing a sign of life visible to Hank
(he couldn’t see Manny’s eye movement earlier). Manny sings Hank’s “Crazy” song
and leads viewers to wonder how much of Hank’s talking from the beginning of
the film he heard. The Daniels use a double shot to convey the conversation
between Hank and Manny when the two discuss the meaning of home and trash. Hank
explains anatomy to Manny by showing Manny the body and the brain. He calls
Manny his “multipurpose tool-guy” and tells Manny he is special (Kwan and
Scheinert). The two converse about happiness and love, with the topics leading
to conversation about sex. Manny sees Hank’s phone lock screen with a picture
of a girl Hank has never talked to but has dreamed about talking too. Hank starts
to have flashbacks to the girl, named Sarah, and Manny believes he too has seen
Sarah previously.
Hank constructs a bus in the forest to stimulate a real riding
experience for Manny. He explains to Manny the normal behavior on a bus,
including listening to music, keeping to oneself, and staring out the window. A
picture slideshow glides by on the bus’s “window” for Manny to view. Hank
claims: “Every day you ride the bus and count the minutes hoping you’ll see her again.”
In conversing with Manny about longing for more time with Sarah, he was
remembering his own emotions while staying silent every day Sarah walked by his
seat on the bus. Hank recounts the “strange tingle up the back of [his] neck,” the
smiles, sweat on forehead, and feeling like “the luckiest man in the world”
(Kwan and Scheinert). He tells Manny, “You could talk to [Sarah].” Manny,
exactly like Hank, believes Sarah is too beautiful and does not want to say
something stupid. When asked by Manny about the action he would take as Sarah walked
by his bus seat, he admitted: “I would wait and watch her get off the bus.” He
would go against his own advice. Swiss Army
Man expresses the importance of
connection and the importance of living in the moment. As Hank explained, life
is too short to ride the bus alone (Kwan and Scheinert). If a person likes another
person or wants to get to know another individual, the time to act is now.
The pair discuss making
the woods a new home, but ultimately continue to wander into Sarah’s backyard. Slow
music plays as Sarah is shown in-person for the first time. Low-angle shots convey
Sarah’s dominance in relation to Hank, as he is sitting on the ground looking up
at her. She questions why he is in her backyard and if he needs any help. Hank responds
with head gestures, nodding yes to a question of needing help and nodding no to
a question of if he is okay. Police are called by Sarah, and the officers see her
as the lock screen on Hank’s phone. Hank, reluctant to let authorities take
Manny away to a morgue, hijacks his body and leads authorities on a chase through
the woods. Officers see all the structures Hank had built for Manny and are
left in awe. As Hank explains to Manny how he “wanted to give [him] everything
in life,” the camera zooms out from the two discussing on the beach shore to a
shot with the officers, Sarah and her family, and the news crew standing behind
the pair. Hank pleads for Manny to show a sign of life and he responds by jet
skiing away into the ocean.
I thought Sarah and
Hank would end up together in the film, even if she did have a husband. I
neglected to realize he had never introduced himself to her on the bus. She was
probably more disturbed than intrigued about being the front screen on Hank’s
phone.
Swiss Army Man. Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert,
A24, 2016.
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