Directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert make their feature film debut with Swiss Army Man, a melancholic yet life affirming dramatic surrealistic fantasy comedy film in the vein of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich. It also involves a farting corpse as one of the two leads. Despite that, it still manages to be one of 2016’s best films by far.

From Ex Machina to The Witch and Green Room, A24 Films is proving to be the film distributor to watch for the latest and best in thought-provoking, intelligent genre work. Swiss Army Man continues that streak with one of the most unique mainstream film releases in years. Paul Dano plays Hank, a person apart from society, marooned away from everyone, on his last rope and ready to give up on his life. Suddenly, as he’s about to end it all, he spots Manny (Daniel Radcliffe),a man washed up on the beach who rekindles his hope of surviving. Unfortunately, as soon as Hank makes his way to Manny, he finds his hopes dashed as he realizes Manny is a corpse washed up on the beach; negating his hopes of rescue. That is, until Manny’s farting corpse proves to have enough literal gas to turn Manny into a jet ski that Hank can ride away to safety. This is the audience’s introduction to the main dynamic that powers Swiss Army Man; the chemistry between Dano’s castaway hermit and Radcliffe’s magical undead corpse that manifests new survival abilities on demand.

To further delve into the plot specifics of Swiss Army Man would be criminal, since the charm of the film lies in its ability to surprise the viewer with its fantastically weird scenarios. It’s not a spoiler to say that directors Kwan and Scheinert deliver a singularly unique vision in this film exploring life, loss and love in a way that is both shocking yet endearing. The Daniels follow the tradition of directors like Spike Jonze, Charlie Kaufman, and Michel Gondry who find fantastical ways to get the audience to confront and appreciate things in life that we view as mundane, even disturbing, and find the beauty in them; even death and rejection. Dano’s character is a complex one; one with whom the audience is initially meant to empathize with and get behind, but as the film progresses we saw him for who he is warts and all. Radcliffe has been making brave and unique choices in his film roles since his Harry Potter days and Manny ranks up with the lead in Horns as my favorite performance of his on film. Ultimately, The film’s journey lies in seeing that Hank eventually accepts himself as he is; flawed, weird, and dysfunctional. Manny is the “swiss army tool” in achieving that and the Daniels deserve recognition for exploring such a unique premise in such a fantastic way.

Swiss Army Man is one of this year’s most weird, unique, yet oddly beautiful movies. See it on the big screen while you have the opportunity.