Swiss Army Man

Q&A with Daniels and producer Jonathan Wang on Feb. 4

Daniels announced themselves with this unequivocally weird, frequently hilarious debut feature, which won the U.S. Dramatic Directing Award at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and remains one of the most original films of that year, due in no small part to the impeccably balanced performances from Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe. Dano stars as Hank, a lonely castaway on a deserted island who, on the brink of committing suicide, happens upon a washed-up corpse named Manny (Radcliffe). Over time, Manny emits signs of life and peculiar, multitudinous abilities that might help Hank return to civilization. Daniels, who shared editing and visual effects duties in addition to directing, combined their eye-popping imagery and gallows humor with their near-innocent faith in cinema that freed them to turn a fart joke into a personal, moving story about friendship and deep-seated delusion. An A24 release.