Swiss Army Man

 

Storytelling

    The way that the Daniels tell this story makes it seem like any other cast-away movie at first but as it continues we see just how abnormal and strange this film really is. It starts with a very dark scene of a man about to hang himself from inside a cave on the beach when the man (Hank) sees a person laying in the water. As he yells to get the person's attention, he slips and accidentally hangs himself until the rope breaks. This sets an extremely dark tone right away but is immediately followed by comedic relief as the person turns out to be a dead body, and begins to fart. This tells the audience that this is not going to be a normal cast-away film, but more of a comedy as it lightens the mood. The rest of the film depicts the cast-away Hank using a now alive-dead body named Manny as a tool to survive out in the woods. Manny becomes Hank's best friend as Hank tries to teach Manny what life is like in the real world. During the entire duration of the film, we think that Manny might just be in Hank's head but Manny seems so real. At the climax of the film, Manny actually carries Hank instead of the other way around, onto Sarah's property (the woman who Hank has seemingly been stalking). Sarah's little girl sees the two men and talks with both of them, making us think that Manny really can talk and is real before he drops to the ground and "dies" again. The audience is meant to think that Hank really is crazy and has been right outside Sarah's home this whole time talking to a dead body, but all of our expectations are reversed when we see Manny come alive again and speed off into the ocean in front of everyone, including the police, Sarah, and Hank's father.

Cinematography

    The cinematography of this film makes it feel like everything we see on screen is actually a dream. The saturation of color in many of the scenes has kind of an unnatural hue that could make us think that maybe what we're seeing isn't real. I think one of the main reasons it feels like a dream to me though, is the stop motion-esk videography. In some scenes, particularly when Hank uses Manny as the Swiss Army Man, everything kind of slows down and zooms out making it look more like Manny is a puppet or just not real. It almost reminds me of some scenes shot in the Where the Wild Things Are (2009) movie. I think I have also seen similar dream-like sequences in movies like JoJo Rabbit (2019), where you feel like what you are seeing is not real, but the movie reminds you that you are watching a movie and it is real for the characters in the film.

Examples of how the directors use wide angle shots and either slow down or speed up the video whenever Manny is being used as the Swiss Army Man, shown in the trailer.

Cultural Relevance

    The cultural relevance of this film shows through the emotions of two men. Normally we see men in movies as physically strong, mentally strong, and masculine. But this movie shows the vulnerability of men and how they express their emotions. The relationship between Hank and Manny starts off with Hank just needing Manny to survive but as Hank teaches Manny more and more about the real world, they become best friends. At one point during the movie, Hank pretends to be a love interest to teach Manny what it is like to love someone and that is when their relationship could be perceived as much more intimate. I think we really see this come into play when Hank tries to save Manny with a rescue breath underwater, but both Hank and Manny are smiling and it ends up being more of a life-saving kiss.