Ok. I finished this last night. Looks like I only made it about 9 minutes in, my first effort. I found myself distracted a few times and had to force myself to stay focused on it when I caught that I was drifting. That said, there were some very lovely scenes (as Yoda mentioned in the middle third) that were emotionally sweet, innocent, and sadly relatable. I would hope that if one can get past the delusion of it all, then the idea that we are all just in need of being accepted/needed in one degree or another would be recognized and granted for us all as a common binder, easing our judgments on others and the self. A step back from that, hopefully, one might see how those degrees can be extremely different from our own, to use as a jumping point in recognizing that whatever we are experiencing could be infinitely better (or worse) than the person next to us---as we sometimes judge others for being imperfect to whatever our internal standards are and other times judge ourselves for not living up to what we incorrectly perceive others' standards might be. It's all a very deep and painful mirror to look into, and I think this movie's art direction really pulled off something remarkable.
That said, I feel the movie carried an unnecessary burden of bloat (no pun intended) in dragging (again, no intended pun cuz 'bear') a few scenes out for far too long. I mean, specifically, the two bear encounters (I think these could have been removed completely, as they seemed to only be there to move our characters into the next scene); the few flashbacks of falling, particularly while in the tree near the end (this, to me, kept hinting of a flash-before-your-eyes kind of play throwing back to the opening suicide attempt, but never really landed or clarified what these scenes' connections were, just blurring things more. I could dismiss this as such is the mind of a schizophrenic, but that seems too superficial given how considerate other parts of this movie are presented); and the final scene as we follow Hank back to the beach (while it was a nice reality confirmation to see the officers and family stumble upon Hank's obsessive world, all of that was undercut by bringing everyone directly into his delusion by having Manny do what he did. Others responded to what was happening, not just Hank. Why open that doorway at all?).
In my opinion, this could have been trimmed by at least 20 minutes and may have provided a much tighter whole. Though some of these details shown in these scenes would have been missed, I feel those few bits are not worth the risk of distraction to the viewer. That, and if the story was shortened, the density of its whole would have been far more compelling and emotional. At least I think so.
I really enjoyed the initial dialogue between Hank and Manny. The "relearning" of the character, and subtly forcing the audience to lower our guard so that we, too, can relearn whatever this movie is trying to tell us. I don't mean that dismissively. I get (at least what I feel to be) the message. Or a message. I just meant that in those opening scenes, we do not yet know what we are experiencing. And that was pleasantly disarming, and is an incredibly inventive tactic to access what so many of us guard. In that music was used in such a weirdly universal way in the first third, I was disappointed that that motif seemed abandoned so quickly. I think had that carried over further through the film, then that would have softened the edges of what, to me, are very distinct thirds of a movie experience (I don't mean acts, but of three concepts). Having more of a carryover like the singing of music and other movie themes might have helped blend them more, reminding us where we started as an audience keeping us anchored, if you will, while we journey through Hank's reality. A lifeline of sorts.. Jurassic Park was referenced again during the movie date scene, but as a different media and its reference there did not have the same punch as the musical bits did within the first third of the story. The final third was even more divided into at least two disconnected parts that I more or less noted earlier.
I loved the concept. I love the details, particularly in the middle portion while Hank is teaching Manny about love and life experience. We see Hank's purity here, though he is obviously a risk to himself and likely to others around him. He is still innocent and just wants what everyone wants and struggles to communicate that need. Again, we all do in different degrees, but in how simply these ideas were translated on screen was quite disarmingly charming and makes me wonder how many viewers did not realize this until after the experience had already happened. I have to respect that, for all that I've ever written in poetry, story, or music, Swiss Army Man just does it efficiently. I should love this movie too, but I don't. I respect it greatly and recognize its attempts, and I offer it praise for those efforts. Unfortunately, I think it missed a greater potential drifting off onto itself one too many times.
Last edited by ynwtf; 01-14-21 at 11:50 PM.