Why playing a gaseous corpse is a smart career move for Daniel Radcliffe

Swiss Army Man 15 cert; 97 mins Dir Daniels Starring Paul Dano, Daniel Radcliffe

Swiss Army Man poses a rare critical quandary, or, in fact, several. How is it even possible to recommend a film in which Daniel Radcliffe plays a partially decomposed, farting corpse, whose gaseous emissions enable him to be rigged up as a kind of makeshift jet ski? What were the film-makers thinking? Surely it’s a career-ender?

These questions are tough, which makes it all the more impressive that they’re respectively answerable with “warmly”, “about quite a lot of things, actually” and “no way”. It possibly helps that Radcliffe’s Manny, an unfortunate slab of human jetsam whose skin is grey from the moment we meet him on a deserted beach, is not the main character. Everything wacky and defiantly singular about this gonzo American indie emanates instead from the troubled brain of Hank (Paul Dano), a shipwrecked no- hoper whose thwarted suicide attempt we first witness.

Egged on (sorry) to a new lease of life by his rotting new companion, Hank looks to Manny for solace, methane-emitting rocket propulsion, and in time even conversation. It’s not impossible to imagine Beckett drafting a version of this two-hander between a living hero at the end of his tether and a dead helpmeet who’s surprisingly chatty and chipper.

Both actors, unfazed by the oddity of their task, rise to the occasion. Dano seems genially crazed with just the right amount of suicidal-existential angst; Radcliffe manages the notinconsiderable feat of seeming like a dead dude who’s clung on by fluke to the power of speech.

The directors, both called Daniel, have credited themselves as “Daniels”, which is a whimsy too far. But the invention of their conceit is brisk, funny and unflagging. Manny becomes a source of water, a kind of missile system, and a metaphor perhaps for hope springing eternal, in a gross sort of way, even when you’d figured the game was up.

While huge claims for the film would feel out of place, it’s the kind of head-turning, witty and lively provocation that will have us following Daniels’ career path with interest. Just sort out that *name*, guys, please.