The Daniels' -- Kwan & Scheinert -- SWISS ARMY MAN: great title, problematic movie

If you value originality above all else, SWISS ARMY MAN, might just be your cup of poop, piss or regurgitated liquids. Yes, it's gross, all right, and I suspect it wins hands-down the current movie record for the near-constant use of farting. But at least, unlike so many of those would-be comedies meant for the eight-year-old minds of stunted adults, the farts here are, yep, original. They're also amazing and usually amusing -- used as they are for bizarre plot devices, visual effects and finally as an all-encompassing symbol of what civilized society deems crass.

Beginning with its spot-on title -- yes, one of our two "heroes" is very much like that famous uber-functional knife with which many of us grew up: packed with so many pull-outs it seemed an all-purpose life-saver -- the movie is clever and shocking but also very astute psychologically and cinematically. As written and directed by a pair of first-time/full-length filmmakers -- Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert -- who bill themselves as "Daniels" (as in "a film by Daniels"), Swiss Army Man was said to be the strangest movie ever to screen at Sundance. Now that we've seen it, TrustMovies feels it's safe to say that it may also be the strangest ever to screen in a mainstream movie house. (Those are the filmmakers, above, with Mr. Kwan shown center, Mr. Scheinert, center, right, flanked by stars Paul Dano, right, Daniel Radcliffe center, left, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, left.)

The story here, as you may have by now heard, involves a young man named Hank (Mr. Dano) somehow stranded on an island in the middle of the sea who, having given up on any rescue, is about to "off" himself when he notices a body (Mr. Radcliff's) that seems to have washed up onshore. From there, perhaps the most bizarre of buddy movies begins to unfold.

Where and how the tale maneuvers is so strange and unsettling; funny, sad and unnerving; occasionally believable but more often the stuff of fantasy that you will find yourself trying to figure out just what the filmmaker' intentions really are. Is this a tale of desperation so severe and encompassing that the desperate man will of course invent/imagine whatever he must in order to survive? Sure looks that way.

But as the movie moves forward, there seems to be more at stake here. What kind of a fellow is our Hank? And is Manny (the name Hank gives to that washed-up body) entirely a whole-cloth creation of Hank's? What transpires includes everything from sex education to cross-dressing to the appearance of some very large and obstinate hard-ons from Manny, brought on by an old girlie magazine and a photo of Ms Winstead that occasionally appears on a cell phone.

How all this is possible on an island in the middle of the sea is one of the question that arise, as our buddies grow closer, while managing to avoid anything sexual between them. (Although an apology of sorts, using that old stand-by "I was really drunk last night!", does surface along the way.)

Above all else, it's the relationship between these two young men that matters most, except that the relationship is completely one-sided and serves mainly to build what we finally learn about Hank's character -- who he actually is and what has really happened. To this end, Mr. Dano proves yet again to be the sort of remarkable young actor who can handle whatever role comes his way. (And this may be the strangest and most difficult he'll ever have.)

For his part, Mr. Radcliffe seems bent on doing all in his power to counteract his Harry Potter image, and he's doing a fine job of it. From diverse Broadway roles to the most oddball movies (and they don't get more oddball than this), he is stretching himself and proving quite adept at the stretch. If here, he must play the "best pal" role as it has never been played before, he gives it his all -- which is more than enough.

In the home stretch, however, it must be said that the movie does fall apart (and then falls apart all over again). Things have been withheld from us that make all the difference, and while this might be perfectly OK for some movies, here it rather wrecks things. I cannot elaborate because that would result in a major spoiler. Suffice it to say that, of all things, the Daniels appear to want to offer up something as mainstream as "feel-good" -- after all they've done to work around that usual bill of fare. So Swiss Army Man becomes a movie by two very smart guys who don't quite know when to stop and consequently get a little too close to what you might call "smarty pants."

Their movie, distributed by A24 and running 95 minutes, opened in New York and Los Angeles over the past weekend, and hits a lot of other cities this week. On Friday, July 1, it opens here South Florida all over the place -- from Regal's Shadowood, Cypress Creek and Sawgrass to AMC's Aventura and Sunset Place, Muvico's Broward and Parisian, Delray's Frank Theaters Cinebowl, Fort Lauderdale's Classic Gateway, Coconut Grove's Cinepolis USA, and Miami's O Cinema Wynwood. Elsewhere? Absolutely. Click here and all the theaters near you should pop right up....

The photo of the actors and filmmakers, 

second from top, is by Jeff Vespa, 

courtesy of Getty Images.

Mumblecore for (and with) seniors: Aaron Katz and Martha Stephens' LAND HO! hits theaters

In the elevator descending from the Sony building, just after one of the critics' screenings for LAND HO!, I glanced over at the young woman who was looking about as glum as I was feeling. "The thing about movies starring senior citizens," I suggested to her, "is that those seniors probably should have supporting, rather than leading, roles."  A smile came to her face, and she agreed -- at least about the film we had just seen. In a movie such as Philomena, Judi Dench easily commands the screen, as did the ensemble casts from feel-good schlock like RED and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

In the new film from mumblecore duo Aaron Katz (shown at left, whose Quiet City is my favorite of all the mumblecore movies I've seen) and Martha Stephens (shown below, who gave us the lovely Passenger Pigeons, a few years back), the two old men -- one, the other or both of whom are on-screen for the entire 95 minutes -- don't quite have the personalities to keep us en rapt. They're a little bit charming but a little

bit drab. Nor have Mr. Katz and Ms Stephens given them all that much interesting to say or to do.

Initially, it seems that the movie might take off, as it surprises us via a beginning that looks and sounds clever, professional, and even rather mainstream/ commercial. We meet our two protagonist brothers-in-law: Mitch (played by Earl Lynn Nelson, below, right) a elderly, overweight and overwrought (but still practicing) doctor, and the retired and considerably slighter and quieter Colin (played by Paul Eenhoorn, below, left).

These two are in some ways like oil and water, but there's a bond between them, made up perhaps of past history (they were married to two sisters, one of whom is now divorced and the other dead) that keeps them barely on track. Mitch has, without consulting Colin, purchased a pair of tickets for a trip to and tour of Iceland. Colin is clearly less well-off than Mitch and so is soon persuaded to tag along.

In Iceland they connect, coincidentally, with some younger female relatives of Mitch, of which little comes. And they have other small adventures, the very recapping of which is beginning to put me to sleep as I type this. They talk and spat and go places and do things of little consequence, and finally they connect with an attractive middle-aged women from Canada, to whom Colin is attracted and she to him. And that's it.

Some critics are over the moon about this little movie, but I had to pinch myself a few times to stay awake. The performances are as good as they can be, given the material, which is believable enough, but rather paltry. The same can be said for the characters of the two old men. I think we could learn a whole lot more about them than we do here.

I don't mean to imply that Land Ho! is a dead loss. There are funny bits scattered throughout. The two leads are pleasant enough, though Mr. Nelson wears out most of his welcome early on. There is little drive or propulsion to the movie, and though it is as "real" as you could want, it sometimes comes close to being as boring as hell.

The actress Alice Olivia Clarke (above) adds some much-needed oomph as that Canadian vacationer toward the end of the film. After awhile, though, watching the movie is like being made to sit through some very lengthy footage of someone else's vacation.

Land Ho! opens tomorrow, Friday, July 11, in Los Angeles at Laemmle's Royal, and in New York City at the Angelika Film Center and the Lincoln Plaza Cinema. In the weeks to follow, it will open all across the country. Click here then scroll down to see currently scheduled playdates, with cities and theaters.

Co-writer-director Aaron Katz will be at the Royal in 

Los Angeles this weekend to participate in Q&A’s after 

the 7:40 PM screenings on Friday and Sunday, July 11 and 13.

Toledano/Nakache's French Box-office bonanza THE INTOUCHABLES opens....

First seen in New York City nearly three months ago -- via RENDEZ-VOUS WITH FRENCH CINEMA -- the second most popular movie in French cinema history, THE INTOUCHABLES (Intouchables), proves one of those rare, audience-pleasing hits that deserves every penny it rakes in. Why? Because it takes what some of our more cynical critics are happy to call "stereotypes," turns them on their head and then opens them up into living, breathing and above all surprising human beings.

If you appreciate foreign films already, you'll have no problem; even if you're resistant to subtitles, Intouchables may win you over because it moves fast and possesses a simplicity and charm that clearly grabs audiences and doesn't easily let them go. It's a lovely piece of film-making, a model of classy discretion compared to movies of the "buddy" genre that are made over here.

To begin with, the main characters -- one of France's richest men, now a paraplegic, and a hunky Black African from the banlieues -- are so much more than the usual oil and water types that people this genre. In the typical version the movie always takes us -- and its characters -- from "They hate each other now" to "They've grown to love each other over time."  Not here.

These two guys -- played superbly by the gifted François Cluzet (above, right, of Tell No One and In the Beginning) and Omar Sy (above, left, who walked away with this year's Best Actor award in France, beating out even Jean Dujardin) -- are in each other's corner from almost the beginning. They can help each other, and they know it. So they do. While this might weaken the suspense and anticipation in a lesser film, here it simply allows the filmmakers, Eric Toledano (below, right) and Olivier Nakache (below, left), to concentrate on how all this happens and to give us the succulent, enjoyable details. These details are handled, by the way, with the kind of brevity, subtlety and wit that you do not often find in American "buddy" movies.

Among the many details, I'll just mention two: the movie's wonderful use of art -- appreciating it and creating it -- and the burgeoning interest (sexual, romantic) of the caretaker in the beautiful young woman who acts as secretary to the paraplegic. How these are handled by the filmmakers combines surprise, humor and credibility in equal doses. Each scenario plays out to a satisfying, though not necessarily expected, conclusion.

Above all Intouchables is a great love story, albeit one without sex or even much eroticism (well, ears do get rubbed erogenously, as above). Yet it puts you on cloud nine and keeps you there for most of its near-two-hour running time, as it bonds classes, races and men. No wonder it has raised the ire of a slutty and racist politician like Jean-Marie LePen. More power to it! Though based on reality (these two characters do exist; they helped each other in this manner and remain friends today), the movie is still a lovely fairy tale, one that has a lot to teach us. That combination, of course, is one of the prime reasons that we love -- and trust -- movies.
Some of 'em, anyway...

The Intouchables (112 minutes from The Weinstein Company) open tomorrow, Friday, May 25, in the Los Angeles area at The Landmark and the Arclight Hollywood, and in New York at the Paris Theatre and the Angelika Film Center.

Joe Leonard's HOW I GOT LOST, multi small-fest winner, goes straight-to-DVD

With the bailing-out-of-jail of one pal by another, writer/
director Joe Leonard begins his little independent film HOW I GOT LOST, which encompasses a lot of genres and even more subjects: the buddy movie, the road movie, 9/11, daddy issues, a funeral, baseball, babies, sex, and the northeast blackout of 2003. And the film only runs about 80 minutes (plus lengthy credits).

Mr. Leonard, shown at right, gives us some decent dialog that sounds real enough and occasionally offers a line that resonates: "All my life I've done things the right way, and I thought that the rest would just happen." Although, when one character states rather conclusively that "Plans are what fucked us up in the first place," your red flag about the intelligence of that particular fellow flies on high alert.

Leonard's cast delivers his dialog well, too: Aaron Stanford (shown at right, above and below), Jacob Fishel (shown at left, above and below), Rosemarie DeWitt and Nicole Vicius all do a fine job of bringing their characters as much to life as is possible. What the filmmaker does not yet seem to possess is the ability to write dialog/scenes that continue long enough to allow his characters to grow to some kind of fruition. Scene after scene is cut short before anything much can happen or an interesting situation can be explored in any depth.

Take the morning-after-sex conversation between two characters whom we actually like and might hope for something positive between. "Are you stuck on somebody?" she asks. "I think so; I don't know," he replies. "Me, too," she tells him. And that's all we get. Ever. This sort of screenwriting leaves the heavy-work of character-building almost exclusively to the actors on board. And though we may like them and their work, and they certainly do their best to be believable here, you can't make a whole lot out of too little, which is what they must do.

Ms Vicius, as the more-of-less femme fatale, simply plays and preys (and is quite, quite gorgeous!), while Ms DeWitt (shown above, from Rachel Getting Married and The Wedding Weekend), so good in just about anything she tackles, is saddled here with an infant about whom (Who's the dad?  Is she single mother?  What's going on?) we learn nothing.  Now, TrustMovies is all for not piling on the exposition, but surely, since we like this character so much, we might be allowed to discover a little about her.  Nope.

And the guys?  So enormously different in attitude, behavior, and every other way that counts are these two that all you can wonder, by the time the movie ends, is how they ever became friends -- let alone lasted more than a few days.  (The baseball pitcher -- played by Jonathan Miller, above -- seems more believable in his way than does the relationship between Stanford and Fishel.  Miller just has to pitch: He does -- and does it well.)  Leonard wants to address the concerns of youth  (the 20s-heading-into-the-30s crowd) who are about to confront success & failure, commitment & change.  This is commendable, and so his next time out, I hope he'll be able to give us deeper, fuller characters and situations instead of a movie that leaves us feeling little more than a shrug.

You can find How I Got Lost, which make its DVDebut this Tuesday, May 11, for purchase at its official web site, or via Amazon.  It's also for rent at Netflix, Blockbuster and maybe even some of the smaller chains/stores.