Swiss Army Man

With my one day off I caught up on some sleep and some movies - with just me in the house it seemed like the best way to spend the day anyhow.

Swiss Army Man is the first film directed by the Daniels, the chap's behind this year's stellar Everything Everywhere All At Once. It shares a lot of DNA too with absurdist humour blended with heartfelt 'human experiences' montages a la Eternal Sunshine. I think audiences weren't quite ready for this film when it first came out but now it'll find a place as more people explore the director's back catalog. While it still had a trancendant quality that totally worked for me but it is a bit rough around the edges, especially the ending which tonally collides with itself. That was undoubtedly the intended purpose but it effectively undermined it's own 'life is worth living' message by instead saying 'wasn't that all a bit weird?!' For a film as confident as this it just needed to stick to it's guns on the ending too.

Boy is Taika Watiti's second outing, showcasing the natural beauty of New Zealand and the people who live there. Really sweet film about a boy idolizing his fugitive father and the ebb and flow if their disfunctional relationship. Lot of laughs, lot of heart, lot of landscapes.